The Master Swordsman
by JacklynnFrost
Summary: Meliodas is tasked to retrieve an old magical artifact and ends up getting more than he bargained for- a goddess who does whatever the Master of the Sword commands… and a dark, overwhelming temptation to abuse his power. He wants to do right by her but in the end, isn't sure if he has.
1. A Goddess Awakens

**The Master Swordsman**  
A/N: Thank you to Sinfulfics and The Entity for polishing this up. You've both become great friends in the process of us working together and I can't express how much you have come to mean to me!

**Chapter One: A Goddess Awakens**

Meliodas wipes down the last wooden table then stretches out his back with a yawn as he looks around the bar's floor for his companion. He feels he is getting better at this business owner thing. Setting up near the festival had been very profitable as after the event many people had strolled in looking for drinks to prolong the fun. He closes up the bar before heading through the kitchen and out the back door.

"Hawk's Mama!" He yells, "Let's head due north, I want to check out the ruins." Meliodas holds onto a support pillar perpendicular to the porch as the ground rumbles beneath him. The bar shifts, rocks, and erupts up as a giant green pig unburies herself from the ground with the building, in the shape of a crude hat, anchored to its back. The big pig turns and stomps in the direction near enough where Meliodas wants.

The view is open skies and as the town grows smaller behind them, the valleys and upcoming forests look more and more inviting. While Meliodas is pondering what leftovers he has to eat, hooves snap loudly across the wooden floor. The door opens behind him and Meliodas doesn't turn because he knows who it is. There is only one companion left traveling with Meliodas as all his old ones have moved on with their lives.

"I thought we were done with the bounty jobs." A round pink pig speaks, stopping at the blonde man's side, grumbling as he clomps to the edge to whine to his mother and friend. "Can't we just keep moving from place to place for a taste of the different foods," the pig side eyes Meliodas to add for his benefit, "and the drinks?"

"I want to pay off our debts," he explains. Meliodas is making ends meet but he still owes his benefactor for the start-up fee and paying it back this slowly is racking up interest. How Merlin had so much money when they were both doing the same jobs for the king still boggles his mind. She's relentless though and when she sent this job his way with a little note about how the item he is to acquire 'would more than cover what remains of his debt' if he delivers it to her untouched. Meliodas smirks as he continues, "It's a simple 'grab and go' mission."

"That's what you said about the last job. That Sandcrawler ate me, in case you forgot!" Hawk grumbles and Meliodas laughs, raising his arms for his hands to rest at the base of his neck. He's not a tall man, but he's much more than he appears.

Meliodas used to be a holy knight, doing obscure missions for a king in a small kingdom but after they were framed for the grand master's murder he and his fellow knights moved on with their lives. Meliodas has grown up since then but is having a hard time finding contentment in the path his life has taken. He's happier when he visits his old companions but among the affectionate couples, he grows too restless to settle for longer than a few days.

The last time he visited he had missed Ban and Elaine. Those two are harder to pin down as they are determined to see the world- or in Ban's case drink every beer this realm has to offer. With him being immortal and his girl being magically undead- they have more than their entire lives to find all the nooks and crannies of this world. Meliodas does not doubt they will move on to the next realm when their families and friends have gone on without them.

Even with Ban having to return to the forest every few years.

Escanor had his own bar, but he prefers a stationary life. The man wanted to settle and establish himself. Meliodas had snickered quite loudly when Merlin decided to join up with the young king of Camelot and suddenly Escanor's bar ended up in that kingdom with her. Those two were still figuring each other out and after this bounty, he would be checking in on their progress once more.

Every one of his friends has someone, even his surly brother has found love in Gelda, but all Meliodas has is a dumb pig. He's had a few potential love interests but no one stuck, all being ill-suited for the traveling bar life or simply didn't fit him well.

Meliodas is an attractive man but he supposes being short and stuck in his ways doesn't help matters. His green eyes roam the landscape a final time before looking over to his fat and lazy friend who has laid down on the porch. "I'm going to eat, wake me when we get there." He takes two steps towards the door when he smirks, expecting his friend's ire and he is not disappointed when it comes.

"You can't just order me around like that!" Hawk starts, jumping to all fours and bracing "I'm not your personal ham-clock!" Meliodas nish-nish's a laugh as he walks through the front door of the boar hat, letting it shut behind him. He fills his belly, strips naked and falls into his bed ready to rejuvenate after the long night of serving drinks and cooking horrid food.

︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵

Golems erupt from the earth. They are great stone angels with heavy wings that hit as hard as their fists. Meliodas had forgone his armor as he truly thought this would be a walk in, grab the magical item, walk out scenario. He dodges the rock-goddesses punch and uppercuts him in the gut, the golem soars through the air and crashes into the crumbling ruins a mile or so up ahead.

He had climbed down this vine-covered crack in the earth to find a long, trap-filled walkway that led to the decrepit temple up ahead. Hawk rolls into an attack, trying to have his back in this fight, but Meliodas turns to dispatch the last golem before the pig's attack hits. The thing is reduced to rubble under Meliodas' blows. He's heaving breaths, pushing back his sweaty hair as he looks around at the runes engraved into the larger chunks of an obviously ancient city. Some debris and stones are scattered along the sides of the expansive cliff walls.

Meliodas barely glances at the warnings and fizzed out magical curses imbued here. "Come on Hawk, we're through the thick of it," and the man walks on casually while the pig scoffs, trotting after him.

"We haven't gone in yet!" Hawk complains under his breath as he stretches, "No matter, I can beat anything this old place throws at me."

The two step around the rubble, up to the fractured and crumbling stairs and what is left of the door, which hangs open off its hinges, show ornate dull gold depictions of goddesses. Meliodas sighs, thinking he has figured out why Merlin hadn't gone into detail, "This is a fallen sky city." He tells Hawk, as he points to the curving of the wings on the stones before them. "Keep your eyes open, this entire race is extinct because of their bloodthirsty nature."

"If they are extinct, how can you know what their nature is?" Hawk pays no mind and strolls forward into the shadowy expanse of the temple. Vines and roots cover the floors and climb the walls. The stairs are unusable, piles of remains litter here and there and the dome ceiling has a hole that shows the clear sky overhead along with the edges of the deep crevice they were in.

Meliodas takes a deep breath, smelling the rot and decay of this place, but follows Hawk. In the center of the room is a statue of a goddess, big breasted and holding in her outstretched hands the hilt of a broken blade. The handle is a soft blue, glinting like the sapphire it was chiseled from thousands of years ago. Right away he knows that is the weapon Merlin wants as it had a faint magic pulse as if it is alive. It even sounds as if it has a faint beating heart.

"Yo, Meliodas- these depictions on the wall, these are your people, right?" Hawk calls out, he's standing in front of a mural. The images show winged people fleeing from the dark hellfire of grotesque looking demons with howling, vicious faces. A spider made its home here and the big fat thing scurries away through a sliver in the stone leaving behind its webbing.

"My people and theirs warred for thousands of years before they died out." Meliodas scratches at his chin as, for a moment, he questions the history he learned growing up in the demon realm. From this depiction alone he knows the goddesses must have had a different viewpoint of who the bloodthirsty ones are.

"Look at this." Hawk moves a few panels down and Meliodas looks over the stone reliefs with mild interest. He is careful as he moves, stepping over vines and under fallen pillars. The sword is in this picture, a blade that cuts through darkness and he thinks with a scoff 'it's broken now though' as he looks at the man wielding the weapon that held back the masses of demons. His pig friend continues, "The sword is a woman."

Meliodas stands beside his friend to look at the images of a shapely woman either coming out of or being sucked into the blade under her. She was naked and the runes read 'Princess Slave' which Meliodas chalks up to having not paid enough attention in his youth when he learned the ancient language. "Don't be an idiot. A sword can't be a person." Meliodas moves to the next picture, the rubble of the collapsed stairs blocking part of the image.

What could be made out is that same shapely, silver-haired goddess with her crown, kneeling before the knight that wielded the blade. "What's it say?" Hawk asks.

"That part is cut off but at the end, it says 'refused to war for her people', but the rest says," and Meliodas read the runes aloud, written in block letters above the partial image. "- the Princess bore our Curse to serve the knight who fights in her stead. With her as our shield, our people will not fall. With her on her knees, our warrior will endure."

"So it is a woman?" Hawk turns, looking at the other images of battles, victories and each one has the sapphire hilt sword as the luminescent centerpiece. He trots over to the shapely woman statue holding the broken weapon and up close he can make out the two sets of wings carved as the guard of the sword hilt.

"That's ridiculous. My guess is the girl's powers were taken from her and put in the blade, but it's snapped now, it will be only an echo of what it used to be." But as Meliodas speaks, walking closer to the hilt with the few inches of jagged broken metal jutting out, he can feel strong magic.

He stands before the goddess statue and the stone head moves to look at him. Meliodas tenses, expecting it to be a warrior golem set to defend and if it wields this darkness-cutting blade, he will be in true danger. A goddesses power counteracts with a demons. Slowly, the statue moves, dropping to her knees and she holds out the sword as if it were intact, her other hand acting as if she is bracing the nonexistent pointy end.

"That's it then?" Meliodas asks, reaching for the hilt. "What did I tell ya, Hawk, easy peasy." The pommel of the blade is a swirling orb, it shines like a pearl but light and sparkles dance in it like stars floating in cool waters. As soon as his hand wraps around the hilt Meliodas freezes, shocked into releasing a groan as flashes of memories, of images, bombard him.

To be exact, one hundred and seven vivid memories play in his mind. All of them are of her face, her body, and her dull blue eyes. Those things stay the same in each flash but her hair changes as well as what she wears and her actions. Some flashes are of war, bodies falling around her crying face as she turns to look at him, others are of her undressing and reaching for him with wide, expressionless eyes. Each impression calls to Meliodas as she scrubs floors, bends over to expose herself and, in one, sits in a small dark room completely bare while eating a little bowl of porridge. After seeing a glimpse of all the lives this sword has lived a warm shiver runs down his spine and the strange foreign memories stop.

Just as he can refocus on himself in the temple, Hawk charges at him. He slides into a screaming, "rolling ham attack" and Meliodas uses his other arm to block. He pushes his pig friend's rear from him and Hawk rolls out the temple door and down the steps with many grunts and groans. At the base of the stairs, he yells up, "I was trying to get you away from the haunted weapon!" He snorts and shakes off the dust as Meliodas strolls out of the temple with the gemstone hilt in hand.

The stone golem that Meliodas had sent flying had returned and he stands over the rubble but when he braces for the fight, the stone-angel simply bows. At him or the sword, he doesn't know. Hawk complains to him as they make their way back, limping slightly on the side Meliodas had hit him. "At least we recovered Merlin's desired treasure. She can dissect it now, or whatever she does when she experiments on these types of things." Hawk's words leave a trickle of unease in his gut.

He didn't know why, but he wants to protect the broken thing. It is a weapon and yet he feels like he's holding a little hummingbird, fluttering under his palm.

︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵  
One Month Later

"Five steins!" Meliodas grins as he puts the ales on the table before the rowdy men. Gold is tossed about and he collects it with a scoop across the polished top when the men all grab their handles and lift them to their lips. Hawk noses an apple pie in front of a patron to his right, under the elbows of another bargoer. It is busy and roars of laughter follow just as often as thrown around drink orders. "At this rate, we can pay off Merlin in no time!" Meliodas grins as he hops behind the bar.

Hawk snorts as he looks at the broken sword hilt strapped to Meliodas back. He always has it on his person and Hawk is suspicious that it has done something to his friend. Hawk plans to tell Merlin everything next time they make their way through Camelot. "It could already be paid." The pig mutters, grumbling about broken useless swords and a drunken guy roars with laughter at his side.

"Talk pig! Again!" The red-faced man demands and Hawk trots on with his drink tray, ignoring both Meliodas and the men.

The night wears on, the drunkards get drunker and Meliodas' gold sack stretches, threatening to burst. Even his cooking got fewer complaints than normal and his mood grows as a ragtag group of knights join the fray, partially armored and takes over an empty table slapping each other's shoulders. "You took 'em down, good." The dusty man says as another follows with, "I cannaw wait to tell Twigo!" This is their celebration and the lot order food and drinks- which Meliodas prepares himself.

It's full in here, the noise bolstering. With hard work, Meliodas and Hawk refill drinks and keep everyone satisfied. The two do not have a moment to rest over the next hour while the guests get drunker and more demanding.

The Knights are given their food and they all take a slice of their mystery leftovers pie. Meliodas is already situating the table next to theirs with more drinks when they react. With the first bite, the lot of them howl in anger. "What did you do to our food, boy!" The leader of the group, a brown-haired man younger than Meliodas shouts.

"I never said it would be good." He replies while muttering how he is a grown man. Another knight demands to speak to the owner and Meliodas sighs, "I am the owner." The lot of them scoff.

"What should we do, Alioni?" The bulbous-nosed man on his right asks and Alioni stands from the table, knocking the mockery of food off to crash to the floor. His brown hair is combed back with his fingers as he refuses to acknowledge his blunder. The man squares up to Meliodas, looking over his worn slacks and slightly oil stained white shirt. Due to his shortness, messy hair and round face Alioni smirks at what he sees, thinking the fight will be an easy win. Then his eyes fall on the glinting sapphire blade hilt with the curved goddess wings and swirling stone end greedily.

"I, Alioni of the Beard of the Mountain cats, challenge you to a duel." Alioni slaps at his own blade on his hip and his call out is received with mixed reactions throughout the bar. His fellow knights straighten up with boastful pride while a few patrons egg on the threat.

"Over some bad food?" Meliodas inquires incredulously and Alioni's fellow Knights give a slew of affirmatives as their captain winces a little out of the side of his mouth. The drinks have affected him, his friends being around amping up his need to prove himself but Alioni feels stuck with his own thoughtless words. "Hawk!" Meliodas snaps his fingers. "Clean this up!"

The pig's tray strapped to his back has its last ale taken from its top and he clomps over, "It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it." Hawk quips before he scarfs down the leftovers with loud smacking and chewing noises. Some of the other patrons and even one member of the Beards of the Mountain Cat, laughs.

Meliodas turns, ignoring the knight's table and making his rounds to the other bar-goers. He wants the group to calm down but they whisper to one another as the bar thins out. Hawk warns Meliodas as the night wears on that they aren't leaving. Their drinking slows to a trickle but he acts unconcerned.

When the last outside patron leaves, the Beard of the Mountain Cats stand in unison and approach Meliodas. "For your slight against us, your sword is forfeit." The red buttoned nose man demands. Where Meliodas skirts conflict and tries to play off insults, Hawk rises to the aggression. The pig cuts off the knights approaching by positioning himself in the center of the round room with legs spread in a solid stance. He blocks them from nearing Meliodas.

"You don't know who you're messin' with-" Hawks words are cut off as the tallest man with the square face punts Hawk, who goes flying. The pig screams through the air until he hits the wanted board, papers falling. Meliodas sighs and hops over the bar with one hand on the top of it as he taps down to face off with the men as they draw their weapons.

"This isn't a good idea," Meliodas quips as a small warning to the aggressive bar-goers who are readying for a fight. Meliodas reaches over his shoulder and for the first time since he found the sword, draws it to use. He intends to defend himself just enough to throw this lot out.

Instead of a clash starting, as is usual when a weapon is drawn- even a broken one, the pommel of his hilt glows. Light illuminates every nook and cranny, every eye in the Boar Hat is shielded with raised arms from the power as it feels as if a small sun sparks to life before them. As quick as the light comes, it blinks out as if a miniscule black hole forms and a smooth, creamy woman with her flesh bare is stretched into existence.

She steps down as if gravity works differently for her before Meliodas' wide, stunned eyes. She wobbles, her body quivering from the chill, unsteady on her feet. Her blue eyes are the same dull luster as he remembers from the flashes of memories the weapon in his grip had given him when he first touched it. She stares into him with no true comprehension but instead, a deep sorrowful resignation is shining in her orbs- his gaping face reflecting in them.

"Master?" She asks, her voice is smooth like a trickling stream and it flows across his mind before she teeters backward and passes out on his floor.

The knights, so boisterous in their threats scramble over one another to leave. They push one another away to be the first out the door, knocking over tables and chairs in their wake. All believing something different has occurred as their minds try to make sense of the situation. Meliodas doesn't care about the stampede, as he stares at the woman's long silver tresses. Her face is heart-shaped and in her unconscious state, her pink lips are puckered just enough to draw his eyes for long, avid seconds.

His eyes travel down her body. From the dips of her collar bones, over her perfect mounds with her dusky round nipples, across her belly, her mons and down her long lithe legs to end at her petite feet. Meliodas steps closer, unable to resist smelling her as he dips forward, his hand acting on its own as his fingertip makes contact with her nipple. The peak tightens perfectly, her body reacting to his.

Meliodas' eyes darken, his hearts race and his cock hardens.

"How did a naked woman land in our bar!?" Hawk exclaims. "Don't touch her like that you pervert!" He chides. "Cover her up with something! Don't gape at her, she's unconscious!" The pig has more moral standing than the demon in this case, but reluctantly Meliodas agrees, an idea forming as he scoops the girl in his arms. Hawk squawks, following after him. With her in his arms, he groans, his chest rumbling from the feel of her silken flesh pressing to his. "Put her down you barbarian!" The pig continues.

"I'm laying her in the guest bed, follow if you don't believe me." Meliodas quips, and Hawk does, as he doesn't trust his friend after seeing the raw hunger in his eyes. As, for the first time, Meliodas looks every bit the demon he is as he gazes at her.

︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵

Meliodas arranges the tray. He has cut up fruit, toast and fried eggs expertly arranged with a cup of tea all balanced in his grip. This man has studied the sword hilt at length since he's acquired it and it feels lighter now that a woman has come out of it. He shakes his head, his blonde locks flapping in chaos as he tries to make sense of what he has pieced together.

'The runes at the temple told a story about a cursed princess,' of course parts had worn away, lost to time but what he could make out and infer from the pictures, 'this woman is trapped somehow and I want to free her.' Meliodas' thoughts swirl as he wonders why she came out when she did since he's had the blade for over four weeks and never once had he thought this is the type of magic it held.

"The flashes of her in different places with different hair... were those her past forms? All the times someone else has been the 'master' of the sword?" He asks, but he doesn't expect an answer as he is alone in the kitchen. He hates to think it, but he needs to talk to Merlin if he wants any more concrete answers, unless the girl knows herself. Merlin being involved will complicate things as she's the one who sent him after the blade to begin with.

Meliodas walks through the bar, up the stairs, and to her door. He's just about to knock when he hears a soft choked gasp, then an even softer whimper. It sounds like a dying baby bird but he knows it's her alone in there. "Uh," he flounders, not knowing her name. "Girl, I brought you breakfast."

Inside the room, silence falls similar to the stilling of crickets when alerted to possible danger. Her little cries fall away and he calls out again, "I'm coming in!" hoping it was enough time for her to cover herself and be prepared. He takes a few deep breaths to steady himself and turns the handle, walking in backward while looking over the tray to make sure everything was in place. She's had plenty of time to sink back into the blankets but when Meliodas turns around his jaw slackens.

Elizabeth is standing, in all her naked perfection, as if in offering to him.

"Oh!" He exhales, almost losing control of the tray as it slips from his fingers, but he catches himself and it from the air, not spilling a drop of tea. Meliodas tries to avert his eyes, resisting the allure and pull of her. He walks around her, placing the tray at the end of the bed and flushing hot as he realizes he needs to find her some clothes, or teach her about simple societal norms.

'Why does she have to be perfectly formed?' He thinks, his hands closing into fists as he remembers the pearling of her nipple and the softness of her lustrous skin in his rough palm. Meliodas clears his throat, turning to her with eyes roaming her round perky rear and toned calves. She hadn't turned to him when he walked behind her to the bed.

He had planned to put her in the guest bedroom upstairs but somehow he had ended up putting her in his own bed. The mattress is in the center of the room over a wood frame. To keep himself busy, and away from her, he goes to the bay window to pull open the curtain. He fiddles with the tie as he starts talking.

"You can wear some of my clothes until we can find you something, if you want?" Meliodas clears his throat, unable to stop himself from looking over his shoulder as she shifts to face him. His eyes flit over her rounded breasts, thin waist, and an unexpected groan is caught in his throat. Strange half-hacking noises leave him as he tries to breathe. He goes to his dresser to pull out a shirt and pants, somehow feeling inept for not having clothes that would fit her when he had no reason to buy women's clothing previously. "What's your name?" He inquires, with his back to her as looking is overwhelming to him.

"Whatever you desire," She answers in a low, hushed tone and his spine stiffens. His eyes blow wide and he hates, loathes, that his shaft fully hardens in his pants.

Meliodas isn't a stupid man. He realizes at this moment, from the depictions on the temple and the flashes of her in the past doing various sexual and violent things, that this girl truly is a slave to, presumably, whoever wields the sword. Merlin hadn't sent him after a magical item, but a cursed one- the options of what to do float in his mind but one thing he knows is he can't entrust the girl to anyone else.

He turns, a shirt and trousers in his hands to offer as covering but to his astonishment, the cursed goddess is before him on her knees. Her thin fingers reach forward and the clothes in his grip slip to the floor as she pulls the knot of his pants undone. His dick strains and he doesn't react quick enough as he realizes he can't even trust himself not to take advantage of her situation. "Fuck." He grouses.

"If that is to be my name, I accept it." She speaks and Meliodas is lost for a moment until he remembers her name is whatever he desires, or picks. His head shakes from side to side as he steps back, bumping into the dresser behind him. She inches forward on her knees, her dull eyes looking to his in fear and confusion.

"Stop." And she freezes, her hand reaching between them, inches from the tent in his pants. Their eyes are locked and his breathing is heavy pants as he sees the dim flickering of life in her blue orbs. "I, uh, I want to know what your name is." He states, floundering with his own chest tightening as he thinks of all the past hers, "what did the others call you?"

The cursed goddess doesn't move her body, but her brows furrow and an expression rolls across her face of deep thought. "I have no memories of anything after joining with the Sacred Blade."

Meliodas tears his gaze from her to internally curse at the ceiling. He calms his lungs but his hard member does not listen to him berating it into softness, staying stiff as if reaching for her outstretched fingers. His thoughts click and he grasps for it like a raft while drowning. "Your name before you were sealed in the sword then." He rasps, bowing back as far as the dresser allows.

She thinks about it as if it is buried deep in her diced up memories. He finds her eyes again and they shine more reflective than before but lacking spark.

"Elizabeth," she whispers as if unsure before her eyes lose the sheen and she's back to lethargically waiting for a command. He realizes this with a sudden onset of seven sporadic heart palpitations and he fears what he will do next. She's naked, glorious in her shape but this isn't right... yet the thought comes that she will forget every depraved thing he does to her as soon as the blade is no longer his. His jaw tightens and his teeth grind as his fists clench painfully. Her eyes roam over his covered chest, past the dangling strings over his hard cock and when she sees his fists her shoulders sag as if resigned to the violence as well.

Briefly, he wonders if even without the memories do the feelings she had previously remain?

"Fuck, fuck." Meliodas groans, but a voice calls outside the door. He looks to the entrance but she cannot. She is still frozen while facing him, her eyes straining to the side to see as best she can while 'stopped'. Hawk opens the door, strolling in with a tray on his back.

"I thought with all the drama yesterday you would like a-" He turns in place and balks at what he sees. The naked goddess reaching for Meliodas- hard in his pants. Hawk howls, the tray crashing to the floor as he charges at his demon friend and Meliodas allows the rolling ham attack to tear him away with a solid body slam. The two crash to the ground, Elizabeth gives a surprised yelp but stays in her position.

"What are you doing to her?!" Hawk bites at Meliodas hair and pulls his limp body farther away. Meliodas crosses his arms, grateful for Hawk's intervention as he wasn't sure what he would have ended up doing if left on his own. "Have some decency! Some empathy!" When Hawk feels he has separated Meliodas from the girl enough he turns to her. "You scared her so much she's frozen!" Hawk trots to her, grabbing the blanket off the bed to toss over her shoulders.

"I'm following Master's order." The cursed goddess answers, confused and straining to see what was happening behind her. When the blanket drapes over her bare body, bewilderment blanks her mind. Before she had been sealed three thousand years ago she had been taught what will be forced upon her and having her body covered hadn't been mentioned. A slew of thoughts rush in her mind, all doubts and fears of not being pleasing for her new master. "I must please him and abide by his wishes."

Hawk sputters at her words, gawking back at Meliodas in horror. "You don't have to listen to him! If he does something to you, just haul off and punch him!" The pig says, exasperated while glaring at Meliodas and bristling at Elizabeth's side.

Gears snap together in Meliodas' mind and he winces at himself as he remembers telling her to stop, and she had, fully. He rasps, "You can move if you want," he feels strange having to direct her like this and they both come to a stand. Meliodas is wide-eyed, trying to come up with a way to free her from the curse or at least how to phrase things so she has her own choices. Elizabeth, on the other hand, gathers the blanket to bunch in front of her while feeling very unsure about why she was summoned from her prison if the chosen warrior does not want her.

"Actually, I don't want you to do anything you don't want to." Meliodas carefully enunciates before walking forward. Elizabeth takes a side step away but he goes past her, picking up his dropped clothing to fold and walks it to rest beside the food tray."Can you tell me about your curse?"

Elizabeth's wide blue eyes swirl with misgivings and sorrow. "I am to please my master however he wishes." She answers, flashing her eyes up from the floor to meet his green ones for a blink before looking down. "Which is you, as you carry the weapon to protect the people."

He wearily pulls the sword hilt from his scabbard. She steps back, afraid of the weapon, her foot catching on the blanket and she falls back in a heap. "Oh, I didn't mean to scare you." Meliodas peers to the smooth stone hilt glinting in the sunlight through the open windows and shows her the end, "It's broken, did the blade snapping affect you or your curse at all?"

Slowly, her eyes fill with unshed tears. "I don't know... My-my people will though." She whispers, a fistful of blanket raises to her face and she wipes at the gathered moisture. "The goddesses, are they still..." When the cursed woman looks up, first at her master and then at the pig she understands from their posture alone that whatever the news about her race, it wasn't good.

"Elizabeth." The man starts and she flinches at her name, focusing on the blonde man. "I promise you I will try to break your curse but until then I will hold on to this," he sheaths his broken blade, "so you never have to restart your life or obey another's command again."

His green eyes stare into hers and she wonders how many lives she's lived and why this man would make such a promise without knowing her. "I..." She starts, her mouth going dry and throat thickening. "I don't even know your name." Her voice catches but she swallows the sob with a quick bitten lip.

"Meliodas." He quips and he points to the pig, "and that's Hawk." She nods, her chin quivering until a soft exhale of a sob escapes her. Meliodas takes a step forward but she tightens the blankets at his movements so he stops, grinding his teeth as he motions for Hawk to head with him to the door. "Take however long you need, wear what you want if you don't like what I picked and if you are hungry try to eat but in no way is any of that a demand."

Elizabeth stays in a heap on the floor with so many questions and fears warring in her heart but she is grateful when the door shuts behind the man and his pig. She listens to his retreat and she wonders how many masters have ever tried to help her as Meliodas promises he will. She whispers to the emptiness, "But words mean nothing."

Meliodas scowls at his situation, turning to Hawk but as soon as him and the pig met eyes they both knew neither had any idea on how to break an ancient goddess curse. "Fuck." The man cusses and Hawk nods with a simple reply of, "We have to try," of which they both agree is paramount.

︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵

She tugs at the end of her skirt, trying to keep it down over the swell of her rear as she returns a slew of dirty mugs to the kitchen. Elizabeth slides them into the sink as Meliodas, with two matching mittens on either hand opens the burning oven to pull out a roast. It looks amazing but smells vaguely like burning sweaty socks.

Elizabeth is about to say something, but when her hand raises she changes her mind and lowers her fist. She stuffs down the urge to speak. It's been two weeks and she still isn't comfortable. Meliodas treats her well, is careful not to command her by saying most things as a question and nothing has happened in regards to her curse. All they have done is travel around serving drinks. He's taught her how to work as a waitress and each night he asks her questions she doesn't have answers to.

He exits the kitchen, back first with the food in his grip with her following, and the roar of the common room raises in volume. "Will you give that man want he wants?" Meliodas nudges his head to point out a beefy man alone at a far table who is raising his mug with a stern, expectant face. Elizabeth follows the order, stepping around patrons calling out for her attention until she stands before the bald man Meliodas had indicated.

"What can I get you?" Elizabeth's eyes are dull but her lips twisting up in a smile. The beefy man has two chins, beady eyes that roam her figure and dirt smeared on his trousers. She tugs on her skirt once more, no longer bothering with the open mid-drift of her work uniform.

"I want a few things from you, little lady." The man flirts, his smile flashes his missing front tooth but he tips his ale back against his lips and his mouth is covered as he finishes the last dregs of his drink. "But first another of those Crillian Ales." The man hums, giving a little chuckle as he pushes his empty mug into Elizabeth's chest, forcing her to grab it from him.

The man leans back on his stool, releasing his cup handle to grip her forearm. Meliodas ordered her to give him what he wants and this qualifies as he pulls her around. She knows he wants her in his lap but find herself resisting, her stance firm and she feels the pull of her curse. 'Do what he wants', is the drive but her eyes are wide with burning flames, until that simmers and his strength trumps her own.

When she should have met his leg, she instead finds herself released and pushed a few feet to the side. She turns confused just as he crashes to the floor, the stool rolling out from underneath him. Meliodas is between her and the excited, overly grabby customer. "Elizabeth, cancel what I said before. If you want will you finish up serving the others?" Meliodas asks, his eyes dark and she senses something, a danger but he turns to focus on the man sprawled across the floor.

Her eyes flash but she can't feel where the power comes from or link it to any single source so does as Meliodas asks, but on high alert. The beefy man turns boisterous as he bumbles to a stand, tipsy and overconfident from the ale, but rather irked this 'kid' cock blocked him. Elizabeth watches from across the bar while filling up others drinks, abandoning the beefy man's ale mug in the process. Meliodas easily manhandles the angry man out of the bar without using more than one hand as he blocks his hits while guiding him out.

Words are exchanged outside but Elizabeth does her best to keep up with the tables and taking orders. She has a tray of seven ales when Meliodas returns and her foot catches another patrons stool leg causing her to crash to the floor. The drinks go flying, coating the floor, paying customers, and Meliodas. Tears spring to her eyes as she flails, coming to her knees and looking at the havoc she caused.

"She's really a worthless waitress." A dry patron mutters but another chimes a response in her defense, "She's doing her best, don't worry girl." But it only mildly lifts her spirits as she shakes, refusing to look at Meliodas. In her mind, he's done so much for her and given so much kindness when he did not have to. He's fed her, protected her from groping hands and from his accidental stray commands. He seems to always be watching her, ready to spring into action and prevent the curse from taking over. She stands on wobbling legs as she apologizes, rushing to get a bundle of towels to return and pass out to those dripping from the spill.

Elizabeth passes one to Meliodas, their fingers brush over the coarse fabric and a tingle spreads from the contact. "I'm sorry," he whispers a breath before she can say the same to him and in her surprise, she gazes at him with flushed cheeks. She had been told she would be used by her warrior master frequently and in any way he desired but she feels as if she is using him by being so incapable. Everything about this curse makes her easily abused with minimal guilt and somehow Meliodas isn't like that. 'He's a good man', Elizabeth thinks as her tummy warms.

"No, I'm sorry." She hushes, unused to talking to him outside of his questions in the evening when the bar is shut up. He gives a straining chuckle, wiping up his face before gathering up the sopping towels and kneeling on the floor to soak up the ale. "I got this, you get the mugs and refills if you want." Elizabeth rushes and she does, avoiding Meliodas the rest of the evening as she works the best she can at the job she was given.

She steals glances as he chops ingredients, watching his skilled fingers gently handle the apples. When she's dropping off dirty dishes her eyes are drawn to the lines of his back as his shirt clings to his form from the heat. As Hawk is barking orders, Elizabeth can't help fondly gaze at Meliodas' placating nature. 'Meliodas does not want to hurt anyone' , she thinks as the night wears on.

"Last call!" Meliodas hollers when his apple pie finishes and he moves it to the bar rather than delivering it to a customer. She is pulled away from her observing by the most profitable table of the night, and at this point, the drunkest. The four men are rambunctious in their joking and laughing at their friends not so funny stories. She brings over the requested pitcher and bends to tip the brew in the farthest man's mug when a rush of that same dark energy ekes into the air.

She turns, dripping drops of golden liquid on the table before she rights it, spotting Meliodas at her back and mere inches away. He had a man's wrist in his fist, the red man's hand angled to her rear and Elizabeth flushes hot, realizing what Meliodas had stopped. Yet, he had been across the room and to get here fast enough to prevent an assault made her curious about her master.

"I understand the temptation, but no." Meliodas takes the pitcher from Elizabeth with a soft smile and nudges his head to indicate the rest of the bar. He doesn't give her an order but she understands he wants her to get away from these patrons in particular. He finishes up that table and as the minutes pass, her blush stays while her imagination runs wild.

Twice tonight she sensed danger. Once with her accidental order to give another man what he wanted and now again when that other man tried to touch her, but both times it was Meliodas. She knows this now and as the last person leaves they begin to clean up the bar together, Hawk boasting about the night's take in gold. And as usual, the questions start.

"Why does your hair change when you are, I guess, reborn?" He locks the door, a towel tossed over his shoulder and he points to the apple pie. "Should be cooled, want to eat with me?" She nods as she walks over to the food.

"I didn't know my hair changed." Elizabeth reaches up to the silver she's always had, the long tresses slipping softly through her fingers. "I superficially change to be what my master desires most but I don't feel different from who I was, at least this time I guess." She frowns, knowing from their previous talk that her people died out long ago, that she is the only Goddess he's ever met and he's traveled extensively.

Meliodas hums an assent, slicing up the pie. "Plates, Hawk," he orders. The pig trots to the kitchen as Meliodas calls back to Elizabeth, "After the bar is shut up if the uniform bothers you, you can take it off." Elizabeth's spine straightens and slowly she realizes the uniform does bother her, the place is closed so she undoes the buttons to her top. "I know there weren't many options from that theater trope we bought your outfits from but you can always wear my clothes, I wouldn't mind." He continues before he yells out to Hawk, "Ask your mom to continue our trek to the Fairy Forest, we're done here."

"One thing at a time!" Hawk complains and the sound of him putting the plates down and going out the backdoor can be heard in the main bar area. By this time, her shirt hits the floor, alerting Meliodas as she pops the buttons to her skirt and he turns with wide alarmed eyes. The fabric slips over her hips and down her thighs before bunching at her feet with a soft 'plop'. Her shoulders sag but her eyes don't fade, they shine with unshed tears and Meliodas winces.

"I didn't mean..." Meliodas starts and he shakes his head. Elizabeth knows and she nods her head but it doesn't matter what he intends when it comes to this curse. She will comply if he gives her a command. The back door opens once more and Hawk can be heard in the kitchen. "When I give you a command, tell me 'yes, master' so I know and I can cancel it." He orders.

"Yes, Master." She speaks, her voice soothing in a tempting way, breathy against her will. She swallows heavy as his cheeks flush before he winces, running his hand through his hair. Her body is too tempting, bare outside of her underwear and no matter his self-abusing thoughts he can't look away. Her creamy breasts with her perky, dusky nipples beg to be suckled and his hands twitch, wanting to grab at her rounded hips to pull her flesh to his. His cock springs to attention in one unsteady struggle of an inhale.

A crash of plates sound from the doorway of the kitchen, yet the noise is unable to draw either of their gazes away from the other.

"I leave you alone for one moment!" Hawk aggressively stomps between them and Elizabeth's arms move to cover her most private of places to shield her from Meliodas' molten eyes. She's warm, growing more so and she feels her own urges. Her thighs rub together and Meliodas groans, knowing. "If you take advantage of her you'll go to the special hell! Where rapists and abusers go!"

Hawks words sink into Meliodas and he vaguely states, "I'm sorry, go dress, Elizabeth," as his head falls in shame.

"Yes, Master." Elizabeth replies and he flinches, his failsafe of knowing when he gives her an order hurts as he can't cancel this one. She's silent while moving across the floor and stepping up the stairs. He returns to his task of cutting up the apple pie and Hawk grumbles and gruffs as he goes to collect new plates.

"I can't trust you with her!" Hawk scowls. "She's been stripped of her free will!" And Meliodas knows it's true, knows it's barely right to have her working at the bar for him when he doesn't know for sure if she wants to. She may want to please him because he is the holder of the Goddess Blade and that alone feels wrong to him. He's studied her, he's watched her kindness and gentle nature shine through and he fears this world and he himself is too cruel for her.

When she returns in his shirt and slacks, the situation in Meliodas' pants does not rectify itself. They sit side by side at the bar, facing the various alcoholic drinks, while they eat together. Hawk, who is still rather furious with Meliodas, glares at him as he eats his scraps from his bowl. The pig has been escorting Meliodas to the guest room every night, as he never reclaimed his own room after Elizabeth's arrival. After today, Hawk reaffirms being her guardian.

"Can I..." Elizabeth whispers, surprising Hawk and Meliodas both as she has never spoken before being spoken to or, for that matter, ever asked for anything. Their sudden neck-jerking reactions cause her face to flush and she clams up. The two boys both talk at once, reassurances and encouragements to have her own wants and to request whatever. Hawk puts his hooves up on the bar, leaving his scraps bowl behind and Meliodas pushes at Hawk's face when he gets closer.

Quiet falls in the bar once more and Elizabeth sets her fork down beside her half-eaten slice of apple pie. It tastes like glue but it was one of Meliodas' more palatable meals. Her stomach flutters with nerves, but Meliodas asks once more, "Please go on."

"Can I ask you some questions tonight?" She inquires and her wide sapphire eyes flash to his and then to Hawks. They are both nodding, Meliodas half smirking and Hawk encouraging. "Are you a demon?" She asks, refusing to ignore her main curiosity.

"Yeah." He answers, his face morphing into an apologetic expression, almost a wince. "I was born in the demon realm but escaped in my youth with my younger brother." Elizabeth scrutinizes his face. The demons she knew in her childhood had physical indications of their race, her friend Derieri had been the closest to her own form and she had a monster arm. "Is that bad?" He asks with a small cringe.

"No." She answers. "I was punished because of my refusal to fight the demons. Our worlds had been one long ago but our gods separated them, causing so many disruptions in both realms from their own wounded egos." Elizabeth shivers as Meliodas' brows furrow. That was not what he learned in his history books but he instantly trusts her as she had been there.

"What happened?" He whispers, curious but finding it hard to speak louder as this feels like a secret. As if they are talking about treason or being sacrilegious before a wrathful god.

"I couldn't stop them." She answers just as low. "Our realm was torn in two and without balance they were both doomed to eventually be uninhabitable." Elizabeth's arms tingle with goose flesh. "I did extensive research on the goddesses half and my friend Derieri did hers in her own, the demon one. The signs of unraveling at the seams were already there- but rather than listen..." She sighs.

"I don't know how the Celestial realm is, but the Demon one is rough, or was before I left. Sandstorms that suffocate and mindless beasts that attack without provocation. Nothing can grow there, not even hope." Meliodas had meant his words to show she was right about her research back then but Elizabeth does not want to be right. Her shoulders sag and she smiles softly to him, it doesn't reach her eyes.

"It seems though, that at least your race survived the prolonged separation and mine did not." She moves from her stool, standing before him. "It's fitting I suppose," it was her Deity who sacrificed her physical form first to remove the darkness from their light, not trusting Elizabeth's theory of yin and yang. "Thank you. You are a good man, Sir Meliodas."

Although Meliodas himself disagrees he doesn't say anything as she bows, unnecessarily, and heads to bed. Moments later, Hawk escorts Meliodas to the guest room a floor above Elizabeth and before he shuts the door the pig whispers "The special hell." Meliodas does need that reminder as in the dark it's her he thinks about.


	2. The Special Hell

**The Master Swordsman**  
_Chapter Two: The Special Hell  
_By Jacklynnfrost

They are on their way to the fairy forest, have been since Elizabeth arrived and finally, it is in their sights. Their journey had been unrushed as it seemed no matter the problem a town faced, if Meliodas could handle it for them, he would. He saved a town from a water shortage by removing a magic sword and later he intercepted a magical spear attack, catching it to save the village and all its people from certain destruction.

It seems to her that Meliodas cannot help but want to save everyone- Elizabeth included.

Miles away from their destination, she sits on the porch with her legs dangling and watches the massive trees grow bigger and bigger. The clouds are invitingly fluffy, the sky almost the exact shade of blue Elizabeth's eyes shine, and the wind tickles at the grassland before them like dancing waves of green. Her anticipation of arriving is palpable. "It's as close to the fairy realm I'll ever get!" She bellows down to the big pig and Hawk's Mama replies with a snort.

Meliodas is inside, filling up a cup with a sweet wine for her and he chuckles as he hears her yelling through the wall. She's been growing comfortable, more so over the last couple of days. He's canceled tens of accidental orders, as her response of 'yes, master' always tells him his mistake. He has gotten into the habit of not making statements. Lately, when he asks her opinion or her view on what she truly wants, his hearts beat extra fast when she gives her answer.

Meliodas gets a drink for himself and steps out to join her on the porch. Hawk is lying beside her with sleepy open eyes and he grins at the sight. He passes her the wine and her cheeks pinken so softly. He marvels, realizing he wants to see her like this every morning when he wakes and every evening before bed.

"Thank you." She hushes, her serene and hopeful gaze moves slowly back to the view. He sits beside her, his brew warming his belly as they watch the enormous forest swallow up the rest of the scenery in their approach. "Will you tell me about it again?" Her voice is more soothing than the mead.

"Yeah." He answers, his throat and tone thick. "The Fairy Tree," Meliodas points and she follows where he indicates, "is the heartbeat of their entire race, their divine connection to their home realm." Elizabeth smiles, sipping her wine as he tells the story of how the forest began. He finishes as the rest of the landscape is dwarfed by where they are heading. "I can't wait to show you the giant mushroom fields and of course you'll see their archives. With your mind, I don't doubt we'll have no trouble. We'll break your curse in no time."

Elizabeth's chest tightens, swallowing becomes harder but she nods, looking away from the sensational view to instead study the golden flecks in his emerald orbs. They share many silent questions between them until Elizabeth smiles kindly and he returns the expression with all seven of his hearts aching.

Hawk's Mama steps into the thick of the forest. Cool mists meets their faces and Elizabeth breathes in the sweet smells, turning from Meliodas to see the lush flora. The Boar Hat and the massive pig under it have no problem weaving between the trees as the massive trunks are spaced out and as wide as she is. The canopy is so tall it looks as if they could stack a few more bars atop the one they sit on and still fit.

The sun is blocked from the foliage and Elizabeth leans forward to peer as directly up as she can, her mouth forming an 'o' as she's blown away from the beautiful underside of the canopy alone. Branches stretch, holding up leaves bigger than her torso and these trees are the ones on the outskirts of the forest, the smallest of the lot.

She shivers, her dress reaches mid-thigh but without the sun's heat the fabric is too thin to hold in her warmth. They passed through a friendly town a week or so back and had found clothing for her in a style she liked. Elizabeth sips her wine, hoping for some heat from the drink because she does not want to miss the views. The vines grow thick and swoop between branches, the moss coats the dirt and grows up the bark, and wildlife chirps, rustles, and hoots.

"Are you cold?" Meliodas asks, "If you want, I can ask Hawk's Mama to stop for a moment and you can put on another layer." Elizabeth flushes at his attention to her needs but dismisses his offer. Instead, she stands and gives a soft excuse before heading back into the building. She downs her drink, running to put her glass behind the bar then rushing up the stairs two at a time. Elizabeth does not want to miss anything. Yet, after putting on pants, using the bathroom and finding shoes, she returns and the forest is different.

They are in a slope, the big green pig moving slowly as she comes to a stop in the middle of the clear little valley. Under ground level is chillier but no trees are in the depression, just moss, and trickling water. The air is much thicker here and as Hawk's Mama burrows, Elizabeth looks her fill.

She is struck by the fairies, the people of all sizes flitting through the greenery with curving beautiful wings- some shaped like dragonflies and others like butterflies. She's been excited to meet what was left of her people's allies, and to thank them. Elizabeth is grateful they adopted her people's records and took over being the historians in the goddesses absence.

The boar hat tips forward as Hawk's Mama burrows and Elizabeth is so distracted from the view she falls from the porch. A small squeak escapes her and a few of the smaller fairies laugh as Meliodas snaps into action. He has the chance to simply right her but he can't resist the pull and scoops her. His fingers brush against her side boob innocently enough and he holds her body to his own long enough to kick off the moss ground for a gentle landing back on the wooden deck.

"Careful with her!" Hawk chides, catching the dark look on Meliodas' face and him feeling her chest.

Elizabeth sputters her thanks as he puts her down but she notices his lingering grip at her hips and her mind races. When she had been imprisoned for her treason, a tutor had come with scrolls and tomes on how to please a man. She had dreaded being forced and in her forgotten lives she wasn't sure if she had been, but her curiosity is peaking with Meliodas enticing her desires awake.

This close, he smells like fresh lemons and man, she sniffs him before stepping back with a warm core. She shifts her thighs, which amps up her need but her eyes flit to the sword hilt at his back and she wonders if she reacts like this because he is her master. Him being a demon doesn't bother her, as she feels she's seen enough of him to know he is a kind person. His treatment of her alone warms her heart as well as slickens her slit.

Meliodas' thoughts focus on the tips of his fingers, feeling her warmth pulse there. His digits curl and he makes a fist as if to keep what was left of the soft touch of her breast. He tightens in his pants but her crystal eyes are burning with life and as soon as he meets them he's caught in a multitude of ways.

For a moment, only she exists, and he forgets where he is.

Hawk steps down to the earth, snorting at them but saying over his shoulder, "The forest has the best berries in this particular spot," and goes off in search of some.

"Captain! Master!" A shout draws their attention away. "I wasn't expecting you for weeks!" Elizabeth looks over, surprised as she thought only she called Meliodas Master. She watches as a tall man walks through the spindling brush of the forest floor. He had on a loose t-shirt and drawstring pants, his hair is white and face fresh. He looks to be about twenty-five.

"Ban!" Meliodas calls back, inadvertently informing Elizabeth who is approaching. The man's tall form bends back, bouncing slightly on his knees, his arms opening wide as he laughs, his face to the sky. He looks friendly, happy, and she correctly surmises that these two are good friends. "You're just as ugly as I remember!" Meliodas laughs.

"Oh, fighting words already?" Ban points, rotates his hand to be palm up and beckons for Meliodas to 'come on'. The fairies giggle, a wave of chiming laughter through the trees and the sound reminds Elizabeth of her childhood when wings fluttered and flapped all around. A soft memory floats in her mind of racing through the trees with the other goddess children. Her shoulders sag as Meliodas turns to her not comprehending her sorrow but sensing it.

"Stay back," Meliodas warns with a grin intent to cheer her up with a little showing off, before jumping from the porch and stretching his muscles out as he strolls to Ban. Elizabeth answers with an embarrassed, "yes, Master" but with the buzz of excited noise in the trees, she knows he doesn't hear. She watches his back with dull eyes, mourning an ancient civilization that she feels she was a part of just weeks ago in her own diced memories. Logically, she understands and with her current situation, a spark of anger is growing for those responsible- the same goddesses she called kin back then.

Ban and Meliodas square up. "The usual?" Meliodas asks and Ban stretches out his own body, rearing his shoulders back with a wide open mouth smile. She can hear Meliodas' laugh join the chorus of the others above but cannot see his face. Elizabeth stays back, not moving as she fears all her body will end up doing is backing away because of his order, but more so her own curse.

"Of course!" Ban hollers, "Me first!" She blinks and misses what happens but suddenly Meliodas is soaring through the air, his head is thrown back with a smirk playing on his lips as he hits the base of a thick tree, flipping in the air to hit torso first. The bark groans, the fairies flutter busily as the limbs shake and massive leaves tumble from the canopy. Elizabeth gasps, her spine elongating in worry.

"Master!?" She yells, flushing hot from her slip before covering her mouth, worrying away at her lip. She hates she unconsciously called him that, realizing how ingrained the curse is inside of her. She whispers his name just to make sure she can speak it, that she still controls herself and resists the magic pull. A sliver of cold fear jolts down her core as she realizes with him having the blade, her curse has spread to him in a way. He doesn't want someone to take care of, someone so inept she can't even get food orders right in the bar.

"You next!" Ban calls out as Meliodas 'hups' from the indent his body made in the bark, landing on his feet seemingly unharmed. Elizabeth refuses to blink this time, watching as Meliodas' body crouches a moment before he kicks off and charges at the waiting man. His fist rises and it slams into his friend's torso with such force Meliodas skids back from Ban as the man sails harshly through the air. The snaps of his bones echo louder than the trunk cracking.

She knows in the pit of her stomach he is dead. Meliodas can take the force, being a demon, but that man had been human. Elizabeth tries to step forward, to assist and attempt to pull Ban from the brink of death but the curse and Meliodas' accidentally command keeps her in her spot. A lost groan escapes her, low and heartfelt. Her eyes are filling and focused on where Ban fell but Meliodas hears the forlorn sound that contests the general buzzing glee above like sandpaper rubbing against the grain.

He's lost for a moment, eyes wide and frown forming as he doesn't know why she is fracturing before him. He starts to her, scratching at the back of his scalp in perplexion. Having lived with her for a few weeks now, he knows she isn't prone to emotional reactions. If anything she's been shut off from her feelings- especially in the beginning.

Meliodas is feet away, walking down the slope toward the bar when Ban reappears, straightening out his arm himself to reset the bone as it heals before their eyes. Elizabeth relaxes, her brow pinches and her eyes roam Ban for injuries. He stretches his neck out, obviously fine. Meliodas chuckles, understanding in a blink what Elizabeth assumed.

Before Meliodas can reassure Elizabeth, a great repetitive booming sounds to their left, growing closer and closer until, through the trees, a giant girl appears with a wide grin and bouncing brown pigtails. "The fairies told me you've come!" The girl gushes, dropping to a knee with another large step in their direction, her single blue arm brace catches Elizabeth's gaze.

She's pretty, dressed in an orange leather outfit with ties over her massive breasts. Her purple eyes dance with joy and her face shows her genuine expression as she looks around his feet. "Where's Hawk?" The girl asks, her eye finally find Elizabeth in front of the Boar Hat. "Oh! You brought a girl with you, huh Captain?"

Elizabeth flinches, unsure what this girl's tone means until the giant's hands come to her cheeks and she squeals. Birds disperse from the trees, fairies retreat farther away from the grating, shrill sound. The only fairy that moves toward them rather than away is a small little blonde with pale translucent wings. She floats, as if she is a ghost, with a stern expression in Ban's direction. Elizabeth is overwhelmed, looking to Meliodas for answers until the fairies start to call out, "the King!" and, "Fairy King Harlequin" from above.

The cursed goddess flushes, looking down at her dress with the pants underneath and she knows she isn't prepared or dressed correctly to meet a king. Meliodas said he would show her around, that they would meet the Fairy leader but he had laughed when she asked about protocol. He said, "don't worry, he doesn't act like royalty at all." Yet, faced with a human that didn't die, a giant, a slew of fluttering fairies and now a king heading her way, Elizabeth feels too embarrassed. She's stuck 'staying back' because of her curse and she doesn't know what to say or do.

She has nothing to offer and is asking for so much. All she has is requests, so she hangs her head and folds her arms over herself, stepping back just once for a brief moment longer of mental self-flagellation. Meliodas reaches her side, taking her arm and attempts to guide her forward as he introduces her, "Everyone, this is Elizabeth," but when she doesn't move he looks to her with concern.

He doesn't need an explanation, one glance at her dull eyes and he leans to whisper in her ear, "You can do anything you want." Elizabeth feels his warm breath on her sensitive neck and as the new order evokes the curse in another way, she turns to Meliodas with molten desire. After all, she can do anything she wants and slowly Elizabeth influences the curse, fighting back by using it against itself.

He pulls away but the feel of him speaking so close to her leaves tingles of him behind. She wets her lips with a slow lick and Meliodas catches the act, staring at her plump slick mouth with unmasked desire. She reaches for him, unsure exactly what she is going to do when she has him but that seems not so important.

"Elizabeth!?" The giant's face tilts to their level, her largeness making it feel as if she is looking into a dollhouse. The goddess pushes her wants to the back of her mind and smiles to the big beautiful woman before her. "I'm Diane, come on out and meet everyone!" Her skin is a beautiful dark bronze and it has a natural shine to it that amplifies with the joy spread across her face.

The small, translucent winged, blonde fairy silently joins them, hovering beside Diane's face to greet the pair. "I'm Elaine. Any friend of Meliodas is a friend of ours as well." She smiles and Meliodas at Elizabeth's side, still holding her forearm softly, adds, "Elaine's the Holy Maiden of the Fountain of Youth- and boy is it a full-time job keeping Ban in line." He snickers at Elizabeth's side while Elaine gives a soft smile, looking over her shoulder to find the tall undead human looking sheepishly over at her.

"How can a person be a fountain?" Elizabeth asks, and the four of them chuckle. In her current situation, where she is basically a sword wielded by her current master, she feels her question is silly. People can be anything given the right situation, or in her case, the right twist of magic combinations. She smiles just as a regal fairy, hair poofed and draping over his right eye, drops down from the sky in a snappy suit. He's frowning, his hand raising up to push his red-tinted locks from his face.

"He stole it." The new fairy spoke, a few fairies buzz in response to the statement. "Ban broke in, over and over until he slipped past Elaine when a towering Albion demon attacked. He drank it all like the greedy bastard he is." Silence falls for a second, Elizabeth looks to Ban but he seems to be holding back laughter and she knows if she were being spoken about like this she would be in tears.

"He drank it to destroy the demon!" The blonde fairy rose up, charging with her glide right to the regal man. "We both were presumed dead from that attack but Ban beat it down saving our people and dying over and over before giving me his blood. He revived this whole forest and when I didn't wake he went in search of you, the Fairy King Harlequin. He spent ten years traveling with you until you remembered- Does that sound like a greedy man to you?"

The Fairy King scoffs, a smile playing on his lips as he looks to a wide-eyed Diane and then a relaxed Meliodas. "I'm just explaining to the lady how he became a fountain." King notes, shrugging before letting his hair fall in his face. Elaine crosses her arms, gliding back over to further explain, "Ban returned every year to give the forest and my body more of his lifeblood- Until all this grew, " she gestures around, "and I came back."

Elaine's already soft youthful face softens more in remembrance. Diane stands and goes to King and her low voice is full of admiration as she tells him to be nice, especially in front of Elizabeth, "She seems scared." The words are loud enough and Meliodas sighs at Diane's inability to be subtle.

"We're here for business, with your blessing we'd like to spend some time in the tree of records," Meliodas announces and the fairies still, a few rushing off. Ban laughs and King grumbles his reply. "Of course I grant you permission, but our keeper of the tomes isn't going to be pleased with visitors."

He lowers to fly at Diane's hip level, he looks at her waist a long moment before continuing, "Want to walk with us, Diane? I want to hear about your progress in the valley." King motions for the two on the porch to follow, leading slightly as he peers back at his charges. They follow, Meliodas helps Elizabeth navigate the incline by offering his hand and she takes it, feeling brave and precious as he guides her.

"We'll find Hawk! I know he's going to devour my stock of Berries and I won't have enough to make my wine if he's left going hog wild." Ban shouts, ending on a laugh at his own pun. Meliodas chuckles giving a shout back, "Later, want to show Elizabeth the mushroom fields with me?" There is a quick acceptance and Elizabeth smiles sideways at her companion, squeezing his hand, glad he remembered. He always does and they walk on while she thinks on that fact. Elaine is chastising Ban for fighting as their voices fade. They meander farther into the wild overgrowth. Elizabeth absorbs as best she can the developments while still being in awe of the vastness of the forest.

Diane and King are friendly, laughing with Meliodas as he holds brush, branches and leaves back for her to pass untouched. The air grows dryer, the fairies thinning above until it seems as if it really is just the four of them in the expansive greenery. "How did you two meet?" Diane asks, ducking low to avoid a thick branch as if she's walked this way a thousand times and no longer needs to see where the next tree will pop up.

"She fell naked into my bar." Meliodas smirks, before whispering low for just Elizabeth to hear, "Honestly, I'm still recovering from the sight." He's flirting but she is from a time where flirting was frowned upon, especially with her status. She doesn't understand, thinking he is still upset about having found out the broken sword is cursed.

"I'm sorry." Elizabeth answers Meliodas and he frowns at her before calling up to King with his mind elsewhere, "Who is the Tome Keeper?"

"Gerheade." He answers and Elizabeth stops moving, frozen while climbing up a root thicker than most regular trees. Her heart races, her mind reeling with the possibilities. Her thoughts jumble as she remembers fairy's lifespans are connected to the forest; that this could be the same Gerheade she knew as a child before her mother demanded she grow up and learn to fight. Before her mother sacrificed her own body to split the realm and segregate goddesses from the others.

King and Diane continue on without noticing but Meliodas is keeping a close eye on her for a few specific reasons. He stops with her and she tells him, "I knew a Gerheade when I was a child, in my original life." In the memories she doesn't forget about when the curse forces her rebirth.

Meliodas' eyes grow tight, he nods before saying, "That might work in our favor then, I doubt anyone could forget you." Elizabeth flushes and they follow in silence for a while until they reach the base of a massive, living hollow tree. It smells like burning sage, the cutout holes and entrance glowing with welcoming light from the inside.

Diane is too big to fit but sits outside of the tree while King shows them around. "Hm, Gerheade must have been warned off," he says offhandedly as they enter. The entire inside of the tree's inner walls are rows and stacks of tomes and scrolls. There are thousands upon thousands of them that reach to the top. "I can help some if you tell me what you are looking for." The gliding king of the fairies is kind in his offer.

Meliodas looks to Elizabeth and decides he doesn't want to risk her so says, "Nah. We'll be around for awhile sorting through all this. We can catch everyone up at dinner, my treat, at the bar." King shudders but agrees before pointing a few other amenities out in the hollow tree before Diane's eye appears over one of the window-holes to excitedly agree to eat together, "It will be like old times, right, Captain?" She asks and Meliodas agrees, looking away from his task of trying to figure out how everything is organized.

A few moments later King bids them well, trusting the ancient library to them both without a guard and Elizabeth realizes just how much Meliodas is trusted. A King, who personally escorted them, is giving him open access to something very important. Elizabeth smiles at the back of Meliodas' head, his face in a book already, knowing he is someone special. Diane's steps are heard retreating, indicating their distance. Elizabeth looks around and doesn't know where to start.

"Let's search for the goddess history first. Maybe it's sorted by race." Meliodas muses out loud, "Then we can focus from there on curses and how to break one. Ideally I want to find an account of one being broken before." She watches him, his green eyes intent on his task, his fingers nimble over the ends of the scrolls he handles and she feels a bubble expand inside of her. Her gratitude for this man is growing and her feelings for him are becoming unshakable, unignorable.

She helps for a while and when they know the lowest section isn't going to help them, Meliodas' darkness leaks out of him to become wings. Elizabeth watches, a little shy as she does the same with her light and ethereal feathered wings bloom on her own back. They are opposites, light and dark, but when he smiles at her and she flushes before returning the expression, she knows they are exactly the same too.

"Do you remember when the curse was placed on you?" Meliodas asks as they fly up to the next row up and start their search again. Elizabeth thinks hard, rolling around the last memory she has before she woke up in Meliodas' bed.

"I was in prison for a while." She starts, "I..." Her heart stutters and her palms grow clammy, "I think there was a sacrifice made in order for me to be sealed in that sword." Slowly she glides down to the wood floor, thinking about the layers of magic she remembers before that. Her eyes grow dull but not from the curse activating an order; instead, it's from the realization that she is unlikely to break the magic that holds her. It had taken four archangels and her own mother had possessed the sacrifice to add her magic to the curse, to bind her.

Meliodas continued his search, "Merlin knows ways around certain steps, she is a master at magic so I doubt there will be a sacrifice." Yet, the thought crosses his mind that if one is needed he will kill for her freedom. "Honestly, she knows something about everything because of how long she's been... Hey, did you know a Merlin as a child too?" Elizabeth did, her heart races as a little girl comes to mind, one under her charge in the shrine temple.

Her heart is full with hope but she nods to him, overwhelmed and needing to take a breather. "I'm going to sit outside for a moment." She tells him and heavily moves to the open air, having a few seconds to herself for the first time in a long while, that she can remember at least. She had mourned Merlin and she tries to squash the yearning that Meliodas' Merlin is her own as well- "It's just not possible, " but Gerheade is still here too, isn't she?

︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵

Another three weeks pass.

Ban and Elaine are their regular dinner guests and because Diane cannot fit inside they have been taking their meals out in the forest- always giving Elizabeth a new view to marvel at. She has fit in very well and Elizabeth has found happiness here. Yet, when she catches Meliodas staring out of the Library's open hole-windows she theorizes it's because he is growing restless. His feelings affect her and she's antsy to move on as well.

That night, Elizabeth retires early, the others stay for drinks and she says her 'goodnights' to her friends. She bathes, thinking of the hours Meliodas has spent studying and the scrolls they have poured over together. Gerheade remembers her. She is different though, with no legs and missing an eye, floating in an acorn dress but she seems happy when Elizabeth is around. She is a physical reminder of a simpler time, her childhood. She helped them immensely. The old Fairy had even opened the hatch to the lower levels where the oldest tomes are kept and brought them down to look at everything she had about the temple Elizabeth's sword had been found in.

There had been a mention of Mael, the strongest of archangels, having been the first 'owner'. He had been gifted the sword and Elizabeth is still angry about the revelation. Later, from that same stack of ancient texts, there are mentions of a failsafe on the sword's power but it hadn't gone into detail.

Elizabeth is slowly coming to terms with this life being just one of many. She knows she is herself with Meliodas constantly being careful with his phrases and always adding 'if you want' or making it a question. The curse makes it feel as if no time has passed, as if it's only been four or so months since her people did this to her. Thoughts and fears plague her as she wants to live even if she won't remember it when her and Meliodas' time is up.

Before she was cursed, she had been so busy trying to save the two realms and stop the holy war she hadn't had time for her own personal wants. She readies for bed in the master room, brushing out her hair as she considers which pajamas she wants to put on from the drawer of the wooden wardrobe. After a moment, she decides on the sheer silky nightgown, Meliodas had flushed at it when he bought the thing, and closes up the dresser with a smirk.

The last part of her nightly ritual is to take care of her desires that have built over the day. Each touch of Meliodas' skin amps her up, each dark look sends wicked pulses to her core and just as her fingers dip to her slit she hears the bar downstairs being closed up. Elizabeth knows she has feelings for Meliodas that have nothing to do with him being the holder of the sword. Or, she's fairly certain- It's not like he ever takes it off. But when his skin touches hers, she awakens. She enjoys being with him even when all they do is read dusty scrolls.

He even glossed over their purpose and intentions here to the others, all to protect her vulnerable situation so the news doesn't spread. No one outside of Gerheade knows and she only figured it out because she heard the stories of what happened to her. Of course, she thought her power had been sealed in there after she died, not that her body was also gifted to the wielder. The old Fairy glares at Meliodas every time he is around once she realized what his orders did to Elizabeth. It wasn't his fault though. In Elizabeth's opinion, he is dealing with all the negatives of the curse and none of the positives- which would be burying himself in her body.

She listens for Hawk's regular trotting steps through the hall and down the stairs. Elizabeth waits, her heart beating so fast she puts her hand over her chest as if to keep it inside her torso by force. She remembers the books she read and what the goddesses outlined when she was being 'trained' before she was sealed. Elizabeth flushes remembering the drawings of men's hard members straining and being told how to ease their ache.

Elizabeth had not forgotten, she has brought herself to orgasm every night for the last month, twelve or so feet below Meliodas. She had no idea he could hear her, nor that he pleasured himself to the sounds she made. It's why he is listening now, already hard as he undresses on the guest bed. And because he is alert for any noises from below, he isn't surprised when she knocks on the door as he heard her approach.

Although her steps had been quiet they had not been silent. Meliodas steps into his pants once more, leaving them untied as he pads barefoot to the door. He opens it part way, taking in her form as her nightgown is thin, her nipples hard and poking against the shiny silk fabric. Meliodas chokes down a groan, forcing himself to meet her eyes. "Is everything alright, Elizabeth?"

"No." She hushes, much quieter than him and he flushes, understanding from the way she is biting her lip and her shifting thighs that she is coming to him with her nightly problem. "Mel-Meliodas..." Elizabeth starts, "can I come in?"

His mind blanks and only one thought repeats, 'say no, say no,' but his body does not abide. Meliodas finds himself stepping back and opening the door, even stopping it from creaking in case Hawk is listening below. "This isn't a good idea, " Meliodas confesses as he shuts the door behind her, trapping them alone in the guest room.

"Do you... like me, Meliodas?" Elizabeth asks, her breathing stops with her heart as she awaits his answer. He struggles, wincing but she sees him roamingly look over her form. The green eyes that meet hers seem pained and she reaches for him, her healing powers coming forth before she realizes it's not that kind of hurt. She catches sight of his straining shaft under his pants and it reminds her of when she awoke to him all those weeks ago, that he had refused her then. She worries he will again, but to help her get what she wants, she pulls at the loose neck of her dress to slip it down one shoulder, then the other. The silky fabric falls to the floor in a wavy loop around her ankles.

"Special hell." Meliodas murmurs, "special hell... If I do this-" He groans as Elizabeth cups her own sex, her fingers gliding along her lips as she reaches for him with her other. "Special hell," he whispers, his voice dying as her soothing fingers make contact with his cheek.

"I've never been with anyone before," she flushes, her caress across his jaw stilling before her hand drops, "that-that I remember, I mean." Elizabeth takes a breath. "I want you to be my first, Meliodas. I want to please you as often as you have need of me."

It sounds too much like what her curse entails but Meliodas' brain is shutting down as his cock demands all his blood. He's over warm, her supple flesh there for the taking, and when she bites her lip while her fingers move almost shyly to loop circles on her sensitive nub, he's lost his battle of wills. "On the bed." He orders, pulling his shirt up and over his head.

"Yes, Master." She replies and he doesn't give a fuck. He's already stepping out of his pants and stalking to her with dark intentions as she makes her way to the single guest bed. The view of her bending naked over the mattress makes his chest grumble, his dick bouncing as if it too is following the path her round ass takes.

He's to her before her knees hit the bedding and he drops to his own. "Touch the floor." Meliodas hushes and she pauses, whispering softly, "Yes, master," before her palms slide from his blankets to reach. He can see the slick pink of her between her thighs part and push toward him with each inch she bends, but he wants to see more of her.

Meliodas grips her calves and pulls them apart, she steps wide to accommodate and he praises her with a throaty purr of, "That's my good, sweet girl." His digits trail up her silky leg. Her slit is before him, begging with its dripping cream and he inhales her, his nose dipping and touching the underswell of her round ass as he breathes her scent. She smells like summer heat. His lungs fill with her tempting, overwhelming arousal. His knees inch closer as his hands shake, his hard cock thrumming with need.

"I'm going to suck on your pretty little clit." He mutters, pressing his face between her legs and his tongue flicks up her slit to taste her and her flavor reminds him of morning dew. He groans, low and deep as she exhales in a surprising rush. His other hand roams up her leg to caress her as he flicks once more with his tongue. She can feel his face pressing against her most private of parts, but when his searching wet tongue dives along her folds, her embarrassment makes way for need.

She pushes her hips back against his face, her palms flat on the floor and she dips her head forward to look up from between her elbows. The outline of his jaw angled to point at her belly button causes her lips to separate with a pleasing, breathy exhale. She watches his dark pink tongue part her sensitive flesh and she shivers as he makes contact with her nub of nerves. She bites her lip, unable to stop the warbling cry from vibrating in her chest.

Her sounds spur him on, his arm dipping under one leg, then the other, before he picks up both of her thighs to rest on his shoulders. She yelps, catching her balance on her hands as he wastes no time to feast at her core. Elizabeth is mostly upside down but as Meliodas raises up to lap at her, thrills of zinging pleasure radiating from his ministrations, his straining cock bobs before her face.

His knees are spread about a foot apart, his arm loops around her waist to feel down her back while his other finds the silk of her tummy. Her legs shake, dangling as they are over his shoulders. Elizabeth licks her lips, her lungs ceasing for a halted breath as she inches nearer him, her own tongue stretching and ever so gently the tip of her makes contact with the tip of his cockhead. It's smooth and firm and tastes vaguely like salt, but he quakes, his own rhythm at her slit faltering from her touch.

The hand at her back presses her toward him, his hips thrusting minimally but touching her lips as if begging her mouth to open for him. He adjusts his hold, taking more of her weight over his back to free one of her hands. The other keeps her steady beside the edge of the bed while she reaches for the base of him. Her soothing skin wraps around his girth and Meliodas groans against her clit, making her thoughts scatter.

"Again." She whispers against his dick. He obliges, ending his subtle vibrations to suckle on her nub and she gasps, her mouth wide enough for him to thrust his way against her tongue. She takes him, lapping as best she can while suctioning around him. His hips move for her, her hand at the base of him growing slick from her spit and after a moment she joins him in the motion. Her mouth and hand working him as he thrusts into her mouth.

Feeling him fill her mouth while pressing against his causes her core muscles to clench, her juices dripping from her and it starts to coat her belly. Meliodas is relentless, sucking and lapping her slit with such ferocity her thighs shake. She tries to part her legs farther to give him more access as she wants more of him and more of the sensations he is forcing into her.

Her insides yearn as her clit is being glutted with lavish attention. She can't help the sounds emitting from her throat and around his dick as her body is alive, unlike ever before. Her tummy is aching for him, clenching with every firm flick of his tongue. His hard flesh twitches in her mouth and she angles her head to take him further, earning a harsher tongue lashing that jolts her core.

"I could ravish your pussy for hours." He mutters, and Elizabeth moans, her hand leaving his girth to grip at his hip to urge him deeper. Her breasts graze his stomach and he jerks just as his dick hits the back of her throat. Meliodas loses his sense as he grabs Elizabeth closer, securely, and wobbles to a stand. Her other hand rushes to grip at his other hip to keep them together and steady herself from falling as her legs lock around his head.

Meliodas steps forward, then shakes his head from side to side with his tongue at her clit as he lathers her sweet cream on his face. She gasps wetly around his cock, her hot breath driving him beyond wild and he can feel her body quiver on his tongue. He wants her to climax on his face but the temptation to toss her to bed and take her is overwhelming. Meliodas has never wanted anything the way he wants all of her.

He craves more, he both needs to fuck her senseless and worship her- the two desires war with one another. The lips around his cock do little to help clear up his cloudy thoughts. She feels herself quicken, his attentions sendings waves of pleasure through her and Elizabeth fights the pull of it as the orgasms she's experienced herself have never felt this powerful. Yet, her hips rock against him, her thighs using his shoulders for leverage and he helps her with his own hands roaming down her back to bring them closer.

"Yes." She muffles around his straining rod. Her spit dripping as the fullness of her mouth amps up her impending detonation. Meliodas groans, resisting his need to fuck her to give her what she wants, knowing she is close due to the feel of her spasming muscles. With a final twist of his mouth, he sucks once more on her swollen pleasure button and she tenses a breath before she loses suction on his dick with an audible pop.

Her legs shake, her fingers dig into his hips harsher as her wide moaning mouth takes more of his length. He swirls his hips for his own pleasure, mirroring his tongue as he releases her nub to lap at her flowing orgasm. She fractures apart from the force of her core's pulsing, and heavy satisfaction follows the intensity, making her muscles heavy and lethargic. Meliodas pulls himself from her parted lips and lowers Elizabeth to the bed, his tongue reaching and prolonging his contact with her silken sheath. He bends before pulling away to look at her naked over his blankets to keep this image with him for the rest of his life.

She's limp, her arms rising over her head, her legs parting in invitation and utter submission. Meliodas' knee is on the mattress and he grips her nearest ankle to pull her to lay across the short width of the bed. He grips both of her hips, his thumbs stroking up over her little bones there before lining his hard member to her opening. "Be quiet." He reminds her reverently, thinking of Hawk in the bar and that now nothing will be in her mouth to muffle the beautiful noises he works from her. She wants to tell him, 'yes, master' but cannot from the order of silence.

Elizabeth tries, her mouth opening but nothing escapes her, even her panting lowers in volume. She raises her hand with her palm up as if to alert him, Meliodas though, presses against her most secret flesh not noticing while overwhelmed with her. She's giving, hot and as the head of his hard member enters her, he quivers. His firm grip on her hips tense up harshly as he is overcome with her snug, slick flesh surrounding the tip of him. "Oh, Fuck, Elizabeth." He murmurs throatily.

She shivers, nervous and wide-eyed as this Elizabeth has never been touched by another before. To be devoured and now entered, her insides throb with anticipation while Meliodas' hardness does the same. His breathing is disjointed, his heavy pants filling the room before he cannot resist another moment. He slams home, spreading her virginal sheath in a flash. His eyes shut, his back arching as he groans long and deep to the ceiling above. "You're gripping all of me." He mutters, lost to the sensation of her.

Inside, she aches. Elizabeth fists the blankets and bites her lip to endure silently. Something pinches inside her when he opens her up and though she knows it is good that he lost himself in her, tears prick at her eyes from the discomfort. She had been told the first time is like this, but he had coaxed an orgasm from her so quickly with his tongue she had thought this would be different. Meliodas has gone against everything she'd been told her master would be like, had gone against the grain with every expectation she had so it surprises her that this is how her old tutor had described.

Silently, Elizabeth cries out. Meliodas sinks into her, over and over, his hands moving her hips for her as he brings her flesh to meet his. Skin slapping against skin, the wet sounds are new to Elizabeth and she listens as the bed creaks under his powerful thrusts. She looks to him, his expression is focused, his lips slackened as his hot panting breaths escape him.

The ache eases, the pinching recedes as his hard member breaks in her core. He leans forward, his hips smashing into her inner thighs as she hikes them up to accept him further, his hands leave her plump rear to trail up her sides. A little twinge of pleasure makes her shiver, but it passes, her eyes leaking her unshed tears as his mouth leaves open kisses in the valley between her breasts.

She needs to hold him, her hands shake as they weave into his locks and it's so soft- a contrast to the firm, unyielding flesh inside her own. His hot breath along her chest warms her and she tentatively tries to move against him to feel that twinge again. He had hit something deep inside her and she wants to feel that again. Meliodas quakes over her, his calves convulsing as he burrows deep and twists his hips to give her a taste of being stirred.

Silently, she gasps, her hands fisting over his locks. His hands have made their slow ascent up, feeling every part of her available skin to now tease at the swell of her mounds. Meliodas' teeth nip at the side of her right breast before his face turns to nip at the other, his hands pushing them in to surround and partially cut off his air. His chest grumbles, deep and growl-like and when Elizabeth meets his next thrust he finds his release.

Meliodas bellows a shout into her chest, only partially muffled in her flesh. She can feel him pulsing inside of her while growing warmer and fuller. If sound could pass her lips she would be whimpering, and as his thrusts slow to lazy, easy motions, she wishes she could beg for another go around. Her body was starting to find the white hot pleasure again since the discomfort has faded.

He grins against her pillowy softness, his eyes refocusing as he hushes in adoration, "It's like you were made for me." Her hands fall from his scalp, coming up to wipe at the damp tear tracks on her face but he catches what she is doing. Harsh realizations come to him as he thinks, she is made for him- from her curse. Meliodas' hands leave her supple bosoms to push off the mattress and his twitching cock withdraws from her reluctantly in spite of his coursing fear.

"Did I hurt you?" He asks, but questions are not commands. She cannot speak at the moment and when he steps back on unsteady legs from residual shuddering, she sits up. But, not before he sees a bit of blood smeared down both her inner thighs. "Elizabeth?" He whispers, lost and wary. She reaches for him and he stills as her soft fingers wrap around his forearm as far as they can go, her other hand pointing to her throat and she opens her mouth to make noise and can't.

The sound that escapes Meliodas is guttural, a primal angry noise that is almost as deep as his holler had been when he came. He shakes, his hand combing his hair back as his expression twists in anguish. "Did I hurt you?" he chokes imploringly before warbling thickly, "answer me." This time, her eyes dull as she complies against her will, not wanting to tell him but she responds while fighting the curse.

"Yes." Her voice says and the air between them grows icy, his green eyes flashing sorrow before rage bubbles inside Meliodas and spills out in a great growl. Sparks of purple power pop around him but she doesn't release him. With a gentle tug, she pulls him to her, regaining the closeness he retreated from moments ago. "It was just at first," Elizabeth explains, soft and shy.

"I'm sorry." Meliodas croaks, unable to resist her gentle pull. He reaches for her, his other hand stretches to her messy hair, twirling a lock before tucking it behind her ear. His eyes pinch and he winces. "I should have kissed you properly and been gentle. That was your first time."

Elizabeth's brows furrow as she does not think their experience is lacking anything and when she looks up at him from her seat on the bed, naked and wet, she is full of adoration. Meliodas doesn't miss it shining in her cerulean eyes. He groans as he leans into her, reaching behind her bare form to grip the blankets and softly presses his lips to the side of her forehead at her hairline.

He maneuvers out of her grip easily to wrap around her waist and he holds her body up, against his own to pull the blankets down. She's warm and soft and sweet and a piece of him breaks inside, knowing what he's done to her while still cursed. "I shouldn't have, Elizabeth." He whispers as her hands embrace him, a gentle entwining and to him, it's another thing he feels he is unworthy of. "You understand, that it would have been better, honorable, to break your curse first. I can never know now if we're together because of it, activated or not."

She tenses, stunned for a few heartbeats as he adjusts them to lay on their sides, facing one another. The blanket is pulled to rest on top of their entangled limbs. Meliodas has surrendered, melancholy clenching his insides harshly as he feels he's failed his part of the curse because Elizabeth has no resistance of her own. She literally can't ignore his demands and he winces at the knowledge that he made her go to his bed, made her be quiet and took her so harshly- he had forgotten that her other lives meant nothing to her.

Her soft voice tickles at his neck as she is snuggling into him seeking more of his warmth, "I am only cursed to follow your commands, what I feel is my own." He tries to absorb her words, to feel them as truth but he's wide-eyed and freaking out. "I didn't pretend, the curse didn't take over." He shivers at her words, his arms circling her firmly to hold her closer.

"I promise I'll break this curse, Elizabeth." He vows, his throat thick from his own emotions, "even if it means you having your own will to leave me." She inhales quickly, her eyes wide and suddenly she isn't tired, realizing he meant it. But as she opens her mouth, he speaks first. "Sleep, I'll keep you safe." Her body grows heavy, her eyes dull from the curse.

"Yes, Master." She mumbles sleepily and as she tumbles unwillingly into unconsciousness she hears a string of curses leave him.

* * *

Does this live up to expectations? What are your predictions so far- were my hints enough?


	3. The True Master

**Part Three**

Camelot is looming ahead, still a few hours away. The rows of homes surrounded by lush green valleys look inviting. The road is well worn and Hawk's Mama's steady steps gently rock the Boar's Hat back and forth. Elizabeth is sweeping the bar's floor while Hawk scarfs down the food they hadn't sold in time slopped in his bowl. A moment ago Meliodas had come in, grabbed a bottle of whiskey and walked out. He had stared at her, long and searchingly before shaking himself and going. Now, her mind races with what he wanted to say and hadn't.

"Hawk." Elizabeth calls out and the smacking chewing noises stop.

"Yesh?" He talks with his mouth full but she doesn't care. She puts the broom aside and steps to her pig friend, crouching low to get closer. Elizabeth whispers, "Why doesn't Meliodas believe I want to be with him?"

Black beady pig eyes widen, his jaw slackens and a bite of scraps fall out. "Elizabeth!" He exclaims in alarm. "You like him? But he's a... and... uh." Hawk is friends with Meliodas and he has a hard time coming up with negative traits on the spot but all he knows is Elizabeth is too good for him. Hawk has lived with her for a while now and he sees how kind and lovable she naturally is. But she bites her lower lip, her eyes drop from him and he knows she is self-conscious about it.

In this moment, Hawk realizes Meliodas, at least, will be able to take care of her. Elizabeth needs someone to protect her and this pig has seen Meliodas stand up for those unable to stand up for themselves. Hawk thinks he has resisted taking advantage of this beautiful cursed goddess, not knowing Meliodas has been carefully avoiding being alone with Elizabeth since he had taken her virginity.

"He'd be stupid not to like you." Hawk hushes, grumbling under his breath about Meliodas treating her right but Elizabeth doesn't catch it all. "When the curse is broken, then your feelings will be your own. After that- then tell him." He offers his advice, nudging her thigh with his nose in comfort. Her hand rubs over his smooth pink flesh.

Meliodas is up above them on the roof, thighs wide as he stares up at the darkening sky, watching the stars appear. He brings the whiskey bottle to his lips and he all but inhales the burning, but so soothing, liquid. When he's taken a heavy drawl, he lowers the alcohol, his other palm rubbing over his face and harshly digging into his skull.

He hopes Merlin will have the answers. They found a few Goddess tomes, a few mentions of her but not enough has survived from her time to be truly helpful. Merlin is his oldest friend but he fears she has ill intentions. "Especially since she sent me after the sword to begin with." His hand leaves his forehead to unsheath the broken blade.

Even in the darkness, it sparkles. The sapphire is beautiful, the pommel has a pearl sheen and the stretched goddess-wing guard draws his eyes. He's stared at it enough to know all its facets and smooth perfections. "All of them had probably fallen in love with her too," Meliodas mutters, thinking that perhaps another master shattered the blade, hoping it would free her. The idea settles heavily in his stomach.

The flashes of memories he received of her were all so different but her eyes had always been dull. He believes, correctly, that none of her previous masters had thought of her as a person. She comes out of the blade itself why would anyone believe she is real beyond just another magically created perk of the weapon. "At least I let her do whatever she wants." Meliodas tries to reaffirm to himself but the whiskey finds its way to his lips and this drawl is much, much deeper than the last.

Elizabeth cleans up Hawk's spills, missing her friends she made in the fairy forest while remembering the little orphan girl she shared a room with when they lived in their temple together. "What's Merlin like now?" She asks Hawk as he grumbles about the tummy ache he gave himself from eating so much.

"Cold." Hawk groans, trying to stretch out his overfull belly. "She is the King's advisor but she uses the position to expand her research. Has a whole underground haunted lab." He shudders, both of their eyes grow wide in fear. Elizabeth doesn't like ghosts but she couldn't tell if Hawk was afraid or still bellyaching. He whines softly before continuing, "Meliodas and her are old-old friends, from like forty years ago when he left the demon realm, they say they never dated but-"

The front door opens and Hawk cuts off his words with a squeak. "We weren't talking about you!" Hawk announces, not convincing a soul in a three-mile radius and the pig scrambles off through the kitchen doors. This leaves Elizabeth and Meliodas alone together, something that lately has only happened in the library on the rare occasions when none of the others had been able to join them.

He's tense, his shoulders stiff and his hair in chaos, but when she meets his green eyes they are dark in guilt and self-hatred. "Elizabeth." He rasps, low and intense. "Go get ready for bed and sleep." Her mouth slackens, her eyes sparkling with shock before they dull, her body already responding to his command.

"Yes, Master." She mutters, her voice flat with no indication of her feelings as she does not want to speak it, the curse did it for her. Upon Meliodas' first intentional command, she climbs the stairs, gets ready for bed by undressing and sleeps as he ordered... But she does not go to her own bed, she goes to his. Her last thought before her head hit the pillow is 'two can play this game' as she pushes the curse to its limits in order to get what she wants.

A smile plays at her lips as she smells him on his pillow, naked in the small guest bed once more, sleeping.

It feels like only a moment has passed when the door clicks open and she awakens. He stops in his tracks as she sits up, groggily looking around and cutely rubbing at her eye unashamed of her nakedness. Meliodas winces, his body reacting by tightening hard as a rod before turning around and gripping the doorknob he just released.

"Please..." She whispers, her face burns hot and she feels thousands of butterflies take off in her tummy to flutter needily at her core. "I want you." Elizabeth proclaims softly, but firmer and louder than her plea. He stops, his back tense as she can see the strain of his muscles through his shirt and around the straps of the hilt of her sword. She rises from the bed as quietly as she can so as not to scare him off or ignite him into running away. "I've... I've thought of a way to prove that it's me and not the curse's influence."

The room is still, the rocking of Hawk's Mama's steps the only disturbance and Elizabeth holds her breath. She just needs one indicator that he's interested after the long days of him being proactively avoiding her. His over politeness is killing her. Her throat closes, her chest growing tight and her hands shake. He doesn't move from his stance nor let go of the doorknob. It's the longest minute of her life.

"What's your idea?" He asks, his head turning and looking over his shoulder. The green of his eyes are wide and hopeful but darkening with desire as she is standing beside the bed once more, bare for his consumption. His hand falls from the knob and he twists to step to her before he halts, his jaw tensing and teeth grinding as he makes himself resist. To fight the allure of Elizabeth is the most unnatural thing he's ever done. It's tantamount to letting her be hurt or not fighting when there is a demand for him to protect. She has need of his body and saying no to all her little requests has been like breaking his own arm.

Her porcelain skin pinkens, his eyes follow its path across her collar bones and he hopes her idea calms his volatile anxiety. She bites her bottom lip, her teeth sliding tantalizingly across her slickened plump flesh. The tips of her ears flush with her cheeks and her eyes drop to the tops of her feet. He catches it all, his eyes unable to roam from her and he pleads in a strangled voice, "Please- I don't want to be like the others." He reaches for her but changes his mind as he knows if he touches her the last wobbling threads holding up his resolve will falter. "If there is a way, tell me."

Elizabeth shifts her weight from one foot to the other, worrying as she mumbles, her hands wringing together. When she looks up through her lashes at him she knows he didn't hear. "You could, if you want to try, maybe, listening to my orders?" Elizabeth whispers, staring at the attractive line of his jaw as that is as far as she is able to raise her eyes, until she finishes her next words of, "If you don't say anything, you'll know it's what I want."

Meliodas knows it's paper thin reasoning but her eyes are wide open pools, begging him. He turns from her, going to his bedside table, removing her sword's straps and taking the blade from its holder. Elizabeth watches as he gets on his knees and searches under the bed frame and she shyly wraps herself up with an arm over her chest and a hand over her mons. It isn't until she hears a 'shink' paired with her gut tugging that she understands he isn't leaving nor denying her. She recognizes the feel of her blade being used but she has no memory of why she knows what that feels like. Elizabeth's eyes snap to his back as he turns to her with a strip of rope in his hand.

"Only do what you want, Elizabeth." Meliodas orders before the hempen cord is raised to his mouth and he bites down on it. He's tying it behind his own head with harsh tugs at the ends when she responds, "Yes, Master", in a warbled, pleased tone. A great jittering excitement builds in her chest.

Before she was sealed she read all kinds of books on how to please a man but her imagination had turned a lot of the descriptions and depictions into how she could please herself. Elizabeth is curious by nature and with Meliodas, options are temptingly before her. She's to do what she wants, per his demand, and the possibilities thrum like a vibration through her veins. A naughty shiver runs down her spine and when he stands she tests out how being the Master feels.

"T-take off your... clothes." She stumbles over her first assertion but straightens, breathing deep when Meliodas complies. The rope looks a little like a horse's tack bit and her face pinches in concern. "You don't have to wear that." Elizabeth continues, as he pulls his shirt over his head with a casual hand bunching the fabric. He doesn't respond, shrugging as he goes for the ties of his pants. They tumble to his bare feet and he steps out, looking at her expectantly as he completes her first order.

Elizabeth swallows, thickly and her hands fall away from covering her own private flesh as she circles him to look over his body. He's stocky and well filled out, a man who uses his body hard in life, and while taking her- she vividly remembers. Meliodas tenses, bulging his muscles in a little show of pride as his lady looks. Elizabeth appreciates the fine contours of his core, the bulge of his biceps and as she circles, the rigid, tanned back with his rear indent taking all her attention for a breath. "You are a beautiful man, Meliodas." She hushes while looking over his wide stanced legs with his calves thick and solid.

He's hard, his cock the most appealing part to her as she looks over the purplish head of him, the vein up his length and the mouth watering sight of his girth. She stares before slowly meeting his eyes with raw desire. "Touch yourself." Elizabeth whispers and without looking away his hand wraps around his shaft to pump, stimulating himself while she watches. Her steps are small, tiptoeing nearer and as if stroking himself is a magnet it keeps drawing her gaze. "I want to kiss you... I've wanted to kiss you for weeks."

Meliodas expects her to drop to her knees but she smiles at him, her hands coming up to his face and resting over the ropes there. His cheeks pinken as he realizes he hasn't kissed her properly and knowing she's wanted to, he feels as if he's failed her again. He'd feasted on her soft flesh, he'd taken her virginity and he internally berates himself for not claiming her mouth when he had the chance. She descends to him and he tries to close his mouth around the hemp cord between his lips to give her a solid place to land.

His hand stops working himself, his face eases and his free palm finds her waist as she stops an inch from the mark, breathing one anothers hot breath. He feels silly with the rope in his mouth but he feels he needs it as he easily loses himself to the desires she awakens in him. He had been too aggressive with her their first time. Meliodas wants her to take the lead and with her curse, she needs to. His thoughts scatter when the gentlest caress of her mouth graces his bottom lip with the barest hints at her flavor. He wants more but cannot deliver and when she flushes prettily as she pulls away he wants to rip the rope off to show her what kissing would really be like for them.

Instead, her hands trail down his jaw and across his neck, her soft smile sending aches to each of his hearts. The feel of her tender touch on his flesh imprints on him and his skin tingles as she explores down his chest. "Will you..." Elizabeth's fingers pause and he focuses on her as best he can as her tone suggests a deeper feeling, he pegs it as vulnerability. Her rough tone drops to a whisper, "Will you let me love you?"

Elizabeth's eyes sparkle with life and it reminds him of the pommel of his sword before she escaped her seal, the stars dancing in water. But her sweet plea goes unanswered because her hand leaves his chest to grip around his shaft. His lungs inflate, his own hand leaving his dick to palm at her breast and the creamy, giving mound in his hand fills his own core with delicious tension, his bullocks tightening with her first pump of his hardness. He muffles the start of a command, already trying to take charge and he shakes his head, his hair flapping around his skull.

"Touch me." She responds, thankfully having not understood his mutterings. Her little hand wraps around his and she pulls his fingers from her hip to press him to her slick core. She rocks against his digits and he wastes no time curling them to feel her nub with a firm twirling rotation. Elizabeth's throat catches, her lips parting and her grip around his cock squeezes firmer. Her core pulses and she grows wetter, in a matter of moments her sweet juice is dripping down his fingers.

He buds her nipples, lowering his bound mouth to graze her dusky peaks with his upper lip, making sure to breath heatedly with his heavy exhales. Meliodas warbles around the rope that she is perfect, in every way he can imagine, that she's blown him away but his words are unintelligible. "Harder," she breaths, rocking against his fingers and her own strokes quicken, her free hand wrapping at the back of his neck to press her breast further into his mouth. Her teat there makes contact with the rough, wet twine in his mouth and the sensation amps up her climb to her orgasm.

She's so warm, her core gripping at his fingers and she wants more, her body yearning for his. "Sit on the bed." Elizabeth demands, firmer than before as her needs influence her. She turns and releases his neck but tugs on his dick, leading him to the mattress with his member. Dark thrills course down his spine and his chest rumbles as he looks down her shoulder blades, over the dimples on her lower back and land on the mesmerizing jiggle of her ass. He would follow her anywhere, led by his manhood or not.

He turns, sitting on the edge of the mattress and he looks up as she releases him, silently questioning what she wants him to do next. She hasn't said but he can't resist feeling her and he runs the back of his knuckles up her thighs. One hand dips between her folds once more while the other continues over her hip bone and across her smooth belly. Elizabeth's insides quiver and she holds his shoulders to steady herself. "I want you to do what you want, Meliodas." She orders, in soft mimicry of what he usually tells her and his eyes flash from greedily looking at her core to meeting her gaze with adoration.

Meliodas nods as she raises her leg, her knee sliding up to the mattress and spreading her wide for his palm to get a smooth glide up her slit. Her muscles spasm, her pleasure spiking but he steadies her with his other hand before she shifts her weight to straddle him. She sits back on his knees, bending to kiss his parted lips once more and it's a tender kiss, but his fingers glide home so he can curve into her sweet spot while feeling her silkiness insides. Her lips part from her gasp against his and he wishes he had full range of his tongue. He knows he has been remiss in giving her this and plans to rectify the situation next opportunity.

Kissing her properly is important but as her chest slides up his, her hands on his shoulders pull him closer as another need becomes too much to ignore. He releases her dripping core, spreading his own knees enough to grant him some leverage and his palms grip the side of her thighs under her hips. The tips of his fingers feel the swell of her round ass. He muffles what he wants, flushing and grateful once more that he can't boss her around. It just so happens that Elizabeth is angling for what she didn't understand him say already.

Her knees inch forward and she rises up to line her slit up to the tip of his straining hardness. "This time it's me making love to you." She whispers, looking at his cock but his eyes rise from her chest to her face, lost. He wishes in that moment that he had made love to her, her understanding of how sex is, is his fault, and his throat becomes impossibly tight with the pressure that fills his lungs. Meliodas had barely a second to condemn himself before her warm, inviting walls encompass his most sensitive flesh.

Elizabeth shudders around him and he clutches her hips harsher than he wants as he can feel her insides squeeze with her reflex to their joining. He groans, his head falling forward to her neck. She doesn't bounce, Elizabeth eases up and down on his shaft slowly as if savoring every inch of him.

Her hand climbs up his neck to fondle his locks while her other roams down his spine in a loving touch. Elizabeth's nose dips to his skull and she breathes his manly scent in with a heady inhale, her descent so pleasurable his mouth gapes and he presses an open mouth kiss to the top of her breast since the rope prevents it from closing. His chest rumbles and his bullocks tighten. Meliodas adjusts his legs to give her better access to him and he tries to resist moving, but with his hold on her hips he can't help stilling her flush against him a breath longer when he's buried as deep as he can go.

She's panting, gentle in her use of him and with her pace he hits something inside of her that has her toes curling and core clenching around him. On the next descent, her fingers fist in his hair as her legs shake from the feel of pulsing, approaching pleasure. She forces his head back with a tug of his hair from her chest to align her lips to his, the rope wet and coarse on her petal soft brushes. Her insides throb, squeezing him and he knows she's close as her breathing into his mouth becomes erratic. The fist in his hair almost hurts. Her nails scratch at his back in her abandon, but the loving press of her lips to his cause him the most pain.

Their gasping breaths and creaking bed fill the room, their scents mingle and it spurs Elizabeth on as she murmurs, "You are perfect for me, too," to the man between her legs remembering what he said when he took her. He thrusts up into her, his legs wide and the feelings inside her swirl. The focal point is the spot Meliodas' hardness keeps stimulating. A zinging bolt of bliss shoots up her spine and she shudders as she feels her budding orgasm unravel, blooming slick heat in pulses of radiating pleasure.

"Meliodas," Elizabeth warbles. Her rhythm falters, her sheath squeezing so tightly around him he feels his own balls tightened and his teeth bite, digging into the rope. The action gives him something to focus on but she steals all his attention when her back arches, her breasts are put on display as they dance in time with her tight gripping pussy. Her fist relaxes and she is at his mercy as he catches her. His chest rumbles as she comes apart on his dick, it is the most beautiful sight he's ever seen and he decides then nothing is going to prevent him from sucking those perfect dusky nipples.

With a snapping grind and a surge of his power he bites through the rope and twists his head to the side to spit out the hemp. He wastes naught a second as she's coming down from her peak to capture one of hers in between his lips to flick and twirl the nub with teasing ministrations. His grip tightens further still, causing her to gasp out in pain as he holds her firmly on his dick, the last of her pleasant twitches passing. A deep, choking noise escapes his throat as he releases her nipple, intent on the other. "Resisting cumming along with you... hurt." Meliodas rumbled before finding her neglected breast to lavish with his tongue.

"I don't want you to hurt." Elizabeth tries to raise her hips to make him feel good but he shifts forward himself, his thighs under hers surging and her arms wrap around his shoulders as he stands unexpectedly. He steps away from the bed, each footfall jostling him to stir inside her causes ripples of left over satisfaction to flow and she nuzzles her face across the side of his. "I wanted to show you how I feel," Elizabeth proclaims at a whisper, "with my body." Meliodas' mouth pops her breast free with a hot suction. He blows softly making her shiver deliciously on him.

Her back hits the wall and his stance widens along with her eyes. "Hold on," he commands and her hands grip his shoulder as he rears back and slams home with a smooth solid stroke up into her sensitive and soft core.

"Y-yes Master," she cries out in uncontained delight, nails digging into his skin as he repeats his punishing impetus. His face lines up with her bust but he tilts his head up to stare into her eyes, raw and endless in their depths and she knows what he wants. She arches down to kiss him and he opens his mouth instantly, his tongue lashing out acting every bit like it had been caged yet finally escaped its bindings to have her. He claims her mouth as if his life depended on how thoroughly he devours her and with his firm flick up the roof of her, she quakes from the assault on two separate intimate parts of her body.

Her most sacred walls hug him so silkily Meliodas' chest rumbles and his demon mark appears, his body holding her up as his power leaks from him. He's losing himself in her once more. A sliver of fear slicks down his spine and his hands leave her hips to roam up her soft tummy, over her heavy bust. One of his arms wraps around her lower back to hold her to him with more than his own thrusting hips, but the other cups her face. It's that gentle caress among the rough that makes her gasp between his lips and he swallows the sound before pulling away, trying to control himself.

"I'm sorry." He mutters, slowing his hips and easing the force he was using to crush her against the wall. Meliodas blinks, realizing now he's even repositioned them, surprised he had pinned her. "This was your show and I've..." She fists his hair, pulling him in once more with a wet, needy kiss that spurs him to fall even deeper into his lusts.

Her saliva and his swirl with her slipping mouth and tongue before she speaks against the side of his face, their cores smacking wetly, "This is exactly what I want." Her words add to the music around them, followed so closely by her desperate keening- it's the best symphony he's ever been graced to experience, let alone orchestrate. His powers spark once more as his control wavers and in a crescendo of quaking proportions her core grips him as she finds her release with him.

Elizabeth's back stretches up, her head hitting the wall as she screams his name, her flesh milking his cum from him, and his bellow follows her, sounding almost like a snarl as his darkness blankets the room. His neck tendons stretch, an unnatural wind blows between them and without either of them noticing, the pummel of the sword cracks in a starburst of split glass while their hair flaps in the force. She's holding on to him, fearing she will float away and her own wings evoke in a secondary precaution of keeping her grounded.

Meliodas is overcome with the wave of release that knocks him down. His magic surges and returns, following the same pattern of his cum spurts. He recovers first, his pistoning, punishing tempo slowing and his face falls to her collar bones. His tongue stretches out and he continues his movements to prolong her pleasure while he licks up her neck, marking her further. "You are my purpose, Elizabeth." Meliodas professes but Elizabeth has not returned to her body, her mind is melted but trickling back into the solid being she used to be. His cock twitches with after sparks and he shivers but resists pulling from her, loving every piece of her. Meliodas wants to be a part of her, wants to be as close as he can.

Then, overwhelmed with a rush of feelings and not understanding where this crack inside of her came from, Elizabeth returns to herself with a soft, strangling sob. Her shoulders heave and the movement is felt around Meliodas' waning hardness. She sags into him, still holding him as her tears fall. She's in his arms, catching her is second nature, but his eyes grow wide as he fears he's hurt her or pushed her too hard or did something wrong. He sucks in a breath as her soft keening shifts and it reminds him of the noises he heard through the door the first morning she woke here. Like a little animal, only she doesn't sound mournful.

"I've got you." Meliodas muffles against her neck as her hair buries him. His magic retracts to him in a fast heart beat. He slips himself from her sopping sheath with a hip twist and her sob increases fractionally before they silence, her shoulders shaking and her throat closing to stop her keening. Meliodas takes care of her, bringing her to bed and looking her over. He's left finger bruises at her hips and he kisses each of them, "You made love to me but I..." Meliodas cannot bring himself to finish the sentence as he knows he's loved her thoroughly in his way, and when he looks into her wide tearfilled eyes he wavers a reproachful smile.

"I love how you love me." She warbles hoarsely, neither are sure if her voice is stretched from her scream or from her tears. Elizabeth reaches for him and he falls into her arms before they are fully extended to him, his own chest squeezing so tight he isn't certain how he resists crying himself.

He kisses every available inch of her while she holds him against her supple creaminess. Meliodas is semi hard again as he feels over her flesh worshiping every touch she's allowed him to enjoy. "You are a goddess, Elizabeth... nothing of me deserves any of you, but I'll endeavor for the rest of my days to earn the place you've given me at your side." Meliodas mutters. "Finding that sword, it was the best moment of my life and I can't believe I didn't recognize or appreciate it when it occurred."

Her soft noises return and he pulls away to see her pinkened, flushing face nod in acceptance and understanding. She bends to him, caressing her soft, tear drop slick mouth to his in a heart crushing kiss, one that ruins all of Meliodas' motivations in life as this act solidifies his resolve to free her. His goals in life all sharpen and point to her, his true reason to live.

︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵

That morning Meliodas is gone from his bed again. Elizabeth sighs, wondering if even after what they shared that night he didn't believe her actions were her own. A small bubble of anger rises from her stomach but it pops into nothing before it gains any traction. She knows it's her curse and most importantly, her fault. If she wouldn't have broken her peoples laws all those centuries ago... a realization like lightning strikes her. "I wouldn't have met Meliodas." She whispers, in awe. Her eyes widen as they roam the curved room until she spots a pile of freshly folded clothing on the bedside table where her broken sword usually rests at night.

Elizabeth readies for the day, taking her time and in the middle of bathing she frowns, realizing Hawk's Mama isn't moving. They had arrived late that night, or rather extremely early that morning while she had been asleep. Meliodas had woken very soon after their halt to a soft knock on the front door.

When Elizabeth readies and comes downstairs in her black button up shirt and white skirt, Elizabeth can smell something yummy sizzling but a thin woman with dark shoulder length hair is bellied up to the bar. Instantly, Elizabeth puts on her 'waitress' smile and approaches, asking softly, "Do you want me to get you anything?"

The woman turns, her carmel eyes meeting Elizabeth's with a deep rooted melancholy woven into their depths. "Hello again, Sis-sis." A small smile tugs at the woman's ruby red lips and Elizabeth looks over her frame. Her black dress swoops low to show over her cleavage to about mid belly, her sleeves are skin tight and her ankles along with her feet are bare. Tears spring to her eyes as a moment later the image of child Merlin morphs into this grown adult in a blink of fallen tears.

In a rush of steps, Elizabeth wraps around Merlin, who falls into the embrace with heavy shoulders. "How are you... After so long you look... Tell me everything- or just..." Elizabeth dissolves to tears, everything she wants to say coming out at once. Slowly Merlin stands and in a reversal of roles, Merlin returns the favor and hugs Elizabeth to her chest which isn't hard as she is taller than her goddess sister. In Merlin's childhood, it had always been Elizabeth taking care of her, orphans with only each other. But, over the last three thousand years, it has been Merlin trying to take care of her by finding and attempting to free her over and over.

"Breakfast is served," Meliodas announces, using his rear to push open the door with his hands each balancing a plate. "I'm glad you are up Elizabe-" His grin fades as her dripping blue orbs flash to his before she pulls away from Merlin, looking down in apparent shame. Merlin thinks she understands and in the most severe expression she has ever mustered, the mage glares at Meliodas.

He has the decency to flush but he powers through, putting the food down before the two at the bar. With an elbow resting on the top, he motions for them to sit. "We have planning to do, theories to test and so much to accomplish in order to free Elizabeth in this life." His finger points and jabs at the bar with finality and some of the severity drops from Merlin's face. The two sit, side by side and as they eat, Merlin confesses just as she has before to a handful of previous Elizabeths.

Meliodas listens intently, deciding after the first few recountings of Elizabeth's past lives that he trusts Merlin enough to show her his own research. She's frozen her own time, long ago and Merlin is using her resources to acquire, she smirks to Meliodas before taking a bite of breakfast, which ends in a coughing fit. Elizabeth is used to the taste after so many weeks. "What I mean is," Merlin continues, "I have quite a few tomes and ancient artifacts from the Goddess clan. Just recently though I found that temple, the one I sent you to Meliodas, and that is the last key to breaking your curse. I hope."

"Why did you send me?" Meliodas inquires, suspicious of Merlin. "I always send an idiot to verify first," She responds. "No offense." Elizabeth giggles softly, before stifling the sound with a little hand over her lips and a harsh swallow in her throat. Her wide eyes refuse to look at either of them and she tucks into her food with more gusto but Meliodas's expression softens without her notice. Merlin sees it all though.

"My theory is when her master dies the blade returns to where the curse was created, the temple where we lived as children," Merlin says with a knowing smile to Meliodas as she touches her sis-sis's shoulder. "It fell from the sky over a thousand years ago in my first attempt to free Elizabeth- it ended in her death." She sighs. "I found her a hundred years later, the weapon anyway and stole her. She never exited the blade for me as I was not linked to her and ten or so years later the blade vanished." Her eyes misted for a blink. "When I shattered the blade, Elizabeth died. When I killed her masters, she vanished and every single time her master has only ever gotten in the way, tried to kill me or worse, hurt Elizabeth."

Merlin's voice faded until it vanished totally. Her eyes suspiciously assess Meliodas but she knows, she knew when she sent him to get the sword to begin with that he is a good man. She has a history with both Elizabeth and Meliodas. A dangerous sliver of hope blooms in Merlin, one that died many Elizabeths ago.

"Her death isn't an option." Meliodas declares, severe. Merlin agrees and the two huddle their heads together, making plans without her. He gives her an overview of what they learned in the fairy forest and the only thing Merlin seems interested in was the apparent 'sacrifice' that they found reference too. They are getting along just fine until Merlin holds out her hand with a look of expectation. "Let me see the hilt." She demands when he doesn't respond to her silent insistence.

Tension sparks in the room so thick it's like breathing in heavy humidity and it's then that the front door opens. Hawk walks in, sees Merlin while sensing the budding fight, and walks back out with a little, "Nope," escaping his lips. The hairs on the back of Elizabeth's neck stand up and her eyes shift from her little sister to her lover.

"If I have to die to be free, I accept that fate." She tells them, and Merlin doesn't look away from Meliodas as she is not surprised. Elizabeth has said that every time she explains the predicament. It's Meliodas' first time hearing her resolve though and his eyes pinch shut, his head shaking from side to side in denial. Merlin is forgotten as he focuses fully on Elizabeth, his shoulders squaring up.

"No." His intensity scares Elizabeth as she shifts back. His brows lower and she notices the green of his eyes darken until it looks like his pupils have taken over the color completely. She knows better though, understands why demon magic evokes and while trapped under his dark gaze she flushes with understanding.

"Okay." She relents and this does surprise Merlin, her spine straightening as she has spent years of her life trying to convince the past Elizabeth's to wait for a more solid experiment. Somehow Meliodas has succeeded in just one word. His simple denial paired with her sis-sis relenting is telling and Merlin laughs, her chin arching to the ceiling as the joy fills her. They break their heated gaze to look to her and when Merlin's gaze bounce between the two, her eyes are dancing.

"You two are hopeless." Her lithe form stands, her food untouched as her hand reaches and touches Elizabeth's shoulder. "I'm very glad to have found you again." Elizabeth pushes off the bar to hug her once more and Meliodas watches as Merlin's face softens more than he has ever seen before. Her hands even brush down Elizabeth's long hair in adoration. They part and Merlin turns, calling over her shoulder, "Of course you are invited to come with me, Sis-sis. I can introduce you to the King of Camelot before I collect Escanor and my things before our journey."

The two by the bar look to one another in confusion and both Meliodas and Elizabeth are unsure. "To the ruins of that wretched temple of course. I need to know exactly where it landed and I'll bring everything I've learned these last three thousand years with us." She's to the door when Elizabeth snaps to, stepping toward her before pausing and stepping back to look at Meliodas but refusing to ask permission.

He never says a word but when his eyes return to green she smiles, knowing he wasn't going to stop her from doing what she wants. Slowly, she puts her hands over the bar and leans, gracing him with a brush of her smooth soft lips touching his slackened ones. Elizabeth turns and follows Merlin with a smile and when the girls have left the Boar Hat Meliodas' fingers rise to touch where she kissed him goodbye.

* * *

Yo! Let me know what you think of that reversal of roles, eh? eh?

There is a Zine event going on if anyone is interested in applying or checking it out, it's hosted by Nanatsu No Taizine on Tumblr and Twitter (at sign)NNTZine. I've submitted my application and will keep everyone updated on my own blog (Jacklynnfrost on Tumblr).


	4. Ruins

**Part Four**

Elizabeth mourns silently.

Merlin had transported the five of them to the front of the ruined temple as soon as it came into view in the crevice of the earth they had been traveling through. Meliodas and her are deep in discussion together, climbing the cracked stairs, their heads together and leaving the rest of them behind. It's been like that, those two have stayed up and worked well into the nights over their week-long journey. They are so intent on saving Elizabeth their actions have inadvertently excluded both Elizabeth and Escanor from partaking or helping. The red-headed man who shifted from a beefcake in the day to a soft poetic man at night felt the sting of jealousy while Elizabeth simply understood she is of no real use.

Her eyes roam the rubble. Memories fill in what is missing of the building and her lip quivers as she sucks in a silent, harsh breath. Hawk passes her, grumbling about being back in this dump and though she knows he has no idea, her heart squeezes painfully. When her mother grew too powerful for this world she had to leave, and due to that, she left behind Elizabeth. This temple took her in and after a few years of lonely dedication to their gods, another orphan joined her, a powerful mage girl named Merlin who the goddesses had wanted to use.

This had been Elizabeth's home. Escanor, growing bigger as the sun crept higher is still a gentleman this early in the morning. "Are you alright, Lady Elizabeth?" his deep voice inquires, the mustache on his lip moves with his words. He is in loose clothes as he expects to be filling them out in a few hours and his hand raises to touch Elizabeth's upper arm in companionship.

"There used to be a garden over there." Her hand raises to point where jagged cliffs now sit, that part of the temple cracked off long before and is now sinking into the earth's crust. "Merlin and I had a swing there." She whispers, "we'd sneak out at night when we couldn't sleep." Her head slowly shakes, "the spires were over there, the prayer room was my favorite since it was always quiet." Her shoulders shake, her lungs tighten and she has a hard time inhaling fully.

Escanor listens as she hushes silly things about a favorite tree and how her people swarmed the place in constant droves. His hand moves up and down, palm along her arm in comfort. Her blue eyes swim as they meet his own and her shoulders stiffen. Her hand comes up and she swipes the wet away. "You are very strong to endure this long." Escanor gruffs to her and she smiles.

"I betrayed my people and they betrayed me," Elizabeth speaks with a calmness to her that is unsettling to her friend. "I should have perished with them but because of the curse they placed on me, I survived," It's an irony that is not lost on anyone in their party. "It is not a credit to my strength," she finishes appearing very strong in Escanor's eyes as she gathers herself.

"The others went in, let me escort you." Escanor offers his elbow and Elizabeth loops her arm though with an easy smile to her friend. With Meliodas and Merlin always busy it left Escanor and Elizabeth taking care of the bar and its patrons when they set up in the evenings. The two have become friends and Elizabeth enjoys both sides of Escanor, but his soft night side is her favorite. This past week he's read to her from his journal of poetry on the porch while they looked at the stars.

Elizabeth's determination wavers as they make their way closer and closer to the decrepit temple. A fear blooms in her and she has to fight herself to approach the temple. The memories are gone but the feelings are not and as she trembles she feels that this is where she was cursed. As Escanor helps her to the top landing facing the askew front stone doors to her old home, she remembers it. Fragments of memories returning as she's been lead like this to the doors before but another person had held her arm and shackles had been on her wrists.

"Jelamet brought me up..." Elizabeth starts but she can hear Merlin and Meliodas speaking inside about the statue having moved for him. In her memories, there aren't any statues, and her curiosity is piqued. Her mind whirls as the last moments of her life when she was not cursed plays in fast forward. She shivers and Escanor releases her to walk into the temple in the lead and ushers her inside protectively.

A soft groan escapes her as she gives the area a once over. The murals are all different, the greenery has taken over the fallen stonework and grows in the cracks of the walls. A hole is in the ceiling but what catches her eye is a man standing opposite Meliodas and Merlin. One with similar features to Merlin herself, thin and dressed in wide shorts and an open vest with nothing underneath.

The man points to Elizabeth with his finger. "Hello again," he chimes and mimes shooting an arrow. A thick green lighting bolt propels through the air from his hand and hits her in the head before anyone can react. Meliodas draws her broken blade and slams his elbow across the man's skull, who smacks to the stone ground with a heavy thud. Escanor grips Elizabeth's elbow as she wobbles, unsure of what is going on but he intends to protect her.

Meliodas isn't having it though as he views this as a betrayal from Merlin and Escanor is just as much her lackey. Meliodas pulls Elizabeth from Escanor's grip and angles himself between the two separate points of enemies and her. "What did Gowther do?" Meliodas demands, his one arm out around Elizabeth's waist and his other extended out with the broken sword.

Elizabeth knows though. Memories, the ones in this very room come back- a sacrifice was made. Her mother came to this world herself to weave the curse but the magic drawn from the last breath of life had its own corruption. A sliver of hope shoots up Elizabeth's spine but as she hears her memory echo, she refuses.

"No." Elizabeth stubbornly steps forward, wrapping her arms around Meliodas' back from behind and pressing the side of her face to his head. "We're leaving. I won't do it." She's looking at Merlin but tries to pull Meliodas back with her toward the door.

"As I've told you the last fifty or so times we've had this conversation- no matter who your master is I will orchestrate his death as if he dies by your hand with your sword, the curse weakens," Merlin speaks serenely. Meliodas blinks, understanding his death is tantamount to her freedom. "We're close to it breaking, I can prove it."

She starts speaking in another language, the room's already musky scent growing thicker with magic. Meliodas braces, shielding Elizabeth but a moment later a curse manifests physically. It's a loop of grotesque heads devouring the one in front of it with wide open mouths as if they are screaming in pain and also enjoying the meal. It holds together but wavers, flaking before stabilizing and Meliodas' stance eases. But Elizabeth notices a flash of thick vein-like cords dripping from the thing that converges and centers on the blade in Meliodas' hand.

He knows Merlin isn't lying. She tricked him here, lured him into a trap but he knows if the roles were reversed and freeing Elizabeth meant tricking Merlin, the outcome would be the same. Gowther rises from the ground, grinning with blood dripping from his cut open lip as he points and notes something about the curse to Merlin. Escanor steps closer to them, knowing she wronged Meliodas and Elizabeth, but still wanting to protect her.

Elizabeth isn't focusing though as the complicated magic that had been inflicted on her does not seem fixable from what she remembers now. It had taken so much of her clan's combined magic, with her mother's, to create this seal and after three thousand years Elizabeth feels as if she's suffered enough. She doesn't remember it but her soul has repeated this scenario over and over. Meliodas spins, looking at her with wide pleading eyes and the weapon in his hand flips in his palm to offer it to her pommel side up.

"Elizabeth," He starts, his eyes pinching just like they did when he purposefully ordered her to go to bed. It gave his intentions away and she raises her hand as he opens his mouth. She evokes her power, arcing just as she rears back and slaps him across the face stopping his words as he goes flying from her and crashing into the side of the crumbling temple. What is left of the building shakes, a piece of the stone ceiling crashing to hit the goddess statue in the center.

Her curse flickers, fading as her resolve to resist rises.

"Don't you dare!" Elizabeth chokes out, her hand shaking as she points to Meliodas. He raises from the rubble stunned but recovers enough to shake out the pebbles from his locks and assess her for damage. He looks at the others for any sign of them attacking but in the motion he sees the curse wavering. Meliodas meets Merlin's eyes and the hope in them is so great his shoulders sag, understanding what he must do and why.

"Kill me Elizabeth." He orders. She clams up, her eyes dulling and her power erupts in her hands against her will. "With the sword." Meliodas finishes, he walks to her as she struggles to resist coming towards him. Elizabeth fights it, yet, in spite of her efforts, she still meets him in the middle under the very curse they are both here to destroy. He offers her the blade once more and her hand reaches, her fingers wrap around the hilt.

Elizabeth resists the pull of the curse trying to force her to obey his order, which strengthens her will to fight the magic and power emits from her. Blue energy waves off her as if she were a stone dropping into a pond sending ripple after ripple. Escanor steps to stand before Merlin, who had already stepped to stand before Gowther. She gives a snap and a perfect cube erupts around them, large enough for the five of them plus the curse and the statue. Hawk was left out, but as the building starts to shake he trots full speed out the door and down the steps yelling about 'warnings' but no one hears him.

Her silver hair sways through the air as her head moves from side to side in denial. "It's okay." Meliodas murmurs, lower for the others not to hear across the cube. The weapon in her grip flickers to life, sparking into a light blade from her powers evoking it where the sharp metal used to be. "Do it." His eyes stare into hers as they overflow, a constant cascade of tears run down her cheeks, but he can see the edge of her curse overhead and it's shaking violently.

He sees that Merlin is right. Her one true goal is to free her cursed sister. Her golden eyes watch hopefully that this is it. Merlin has spent so much of her life weakening this curse and hunting for Elizabeth she wants the end of this entire ordeal more than she wants the sun to continue its burn. "Fight it!" Merlin screams against the force of power, it buffeted, acting like hurricane winds. It's a response to her words, which had affected Elizabeth and it pushes back everything around the cursed goddess, everything except Meliodas. Escanor stiffens to hold his ground, blocking the worst of the heavy pressure.

Elizabeth's other hand joins the one around the hilt of her blade, her thumbs up near the guard, holding the sword down as she fights against his order. "Take it-" She starts, pushing the words past her teeth as she struggles, "back." Meliodas's wide green eyes are molten swirls of softness and her lips part in a wet gasp as her throat closes from the pressure of her emotions. The blade rises up as if she is going to thrust it into the ground between them- perfect cube or no.

"I love you," Meliodas states, easy, and his lips tip up. "I can't live without you." He reaches forward, his hand cupping her cheek and his thumb brushes aside her tears on the one side. "I'll happily die to free you." He means it, but as her arms shake, the curse winning, Elizabeth gets a sudden and somber idea. She knows there are other ways to kill people outside of death. The curse and her work in tandem, the silent screaming, devouring-heads above solidify and Meliodas' hearts stop in trepidation; as her's races. Her hands grow clammy, her tears stop and her lungs release a shuddering breath.

"I love you too." Elizabeth professes a moment before the blade arcs through the air. Meliodas stills for the blow, he is content being a forgotten stepping stone in her plight for freedom, as he thinks she lost her fight against the curse.

Yet, as she plunges the blade down he realizes that wasn't the case, too late. She altered his command to interpret it her way, just like she had before. Elizabeth stabs herself in the solar plexus with its sharpened manifested power. His dark magic activates and he moves in a blink, unable to do any more than add his grip to the blade's hilt over her hands, stopping it midway through. He's fighting her curse for her as her wide dull eyes stare into him without the recognition, a painful reminder of when they first met.

"ELIZABETH!" He screams, and it echoes in the perfect cube. Merlin's shoulders sag, her hand reaching forward to touch Escanor's back while looking back at Gowther in defeat. His own eyes match Merlin's in feeling and color as he has been around since the beginning of this rough trek as well. Escanor had grown larger, his shirt now tight on him as his biceps strained, yet it seems to them that the power from the cursed goddess is waning.

It isn't.

While those three are buckling in the face of an assumed failure, with the tip of the blue flickering blade skewering out of Elizabeth's back, Meliodas is the opposite. His true fight has just begun and he howls to her again, "Come back to me, Elizabeth!" Meliodas' voice has taken on a panicked edge none of them have ever heard before. He is firm in his stance, using his darkness to brace himself further and his might to resist her own. She is strong, or, her magic is.

All the screaming does not reach her, as in her head the curse is reminding her of her crimes. The sound of whispers, of the souls still trapped in this temple, are louder than all his howling. Elizabeth did betray her people, she tried to stop the war, she met with the other clans and the demons to find a way to prevent the overwhelming death encroaching in on them all. In the end, the other clans had bound together and swarmed her people... They are dead because of her and even forcing her to be their weapon had failed.

"Please." Meliodas begs so softly his lips barely move with the word. His eyes grow shiny, darkening to black with his magic working harder and stronger, and tears prick at their edges. Elizabeth's dull expression flickers, a spark of herself returning and from that, the temple under foot cracks. Her curse overhead slows in its turning before it halts at the same moment that she sees his eyes shine. His words register, her own will returns and she tries to speak but blood fills her throat, spraying across his face with her exhale.

He doesn't blink, his demon mark cracks down his face as she finally focuses on him, not a foot from her face. "Help me save you." He orders and her eyes start to dull, the curse starts to twirl once more as she abides. The blade exits her chest and her magic there fades. Meliodas curses himself, a long string of them as he realizes she needs to go against her orders to fight this. He isn't giving her the right tools to defend herself, yet an idea forms inspired by his love's own ability to skirt intentions. "Elizabeth." Meliodas starts. "Break your curse."

It's a guess. Either the curse will have a defense mechanism for Elizabeth to overcome or the twisted faces above would lend its power to its own destruction- as her master gave his order. Their hands shake together over the hilt of the sword and Meliodas increases his pressure to keep their palms locked around the weapon.

"It's a corrupted curse!" Merlin yells through the winds, it sounds a hundred miles away. If either of them would have looked, they would see Gowther and Merlin pinned against the wall with Escanor's body shielding theirs from the onslaught of light and darkness leaking from them both. The sword in the middle making the cube itself shake. The statue crumbles, stones and rubble tumbling and pinging from the force Elizabeth and Meliodas are causing. "Destroy the apex!" Merlin's scream registers to Meliodas and he understands now, enduring this with her but it's not him that Merlin's talking to. Elizabeth can see the threads of her soul connecting to the sword that in turn, connects her to the disturbed curse twirling above them, flickering.

Dark magic doesn't mix well with goddess magic and with the two combined Elizabeth understands it is the sword that links her to the rebirth. She tries to tug away from the sword but Meliodas holds firm for a fraction of a blink before he eases enough for her hand to slip out. The force doubles over and Meliodas firms up, straining with all his might and darkness to lock the thing in place to help her. Elizabeth isn't sure if she's aiding him to hold the blade in place but she tries. She notices a flicker of a veiny, sinewy looking cord attached to the pommel of the sword seeming to grip and pull as if resisting the forces.

She evokes her light, her fist squishing around the sticky vine and it reminds her for a moment of an umbilical cord. The actual thing that has kept her alive while trapped. The same light that evoked when she came out of the sword explodes out again, it's too bright to look at and all outside eyes turn away from the blast except for Meliodas. He refuses to turn away as he must be ready to intercept any attack to her as she fights her curse. She can save herself but he'll guarantee her survival.

The fleshy, slimy cord resists, growing rubbery and giving as she tries to pry the cord from the sword. This is the unnatural part, the last dark piece and she knows the shriveled dangly bits must be old cords that have already been broken. The curse's link to the sword can be dealt with later as they appear stable and her eyes mist over, shining as she exerts herself. "Meliodas." She thickly whispers and because he is already so acutely focused on her, he can hear it. "I don't know if I'll survive the separation. I'm already hurting."

Meliodas immediately shakes his head, his pupils blowing wide and darkness trickles, overcoming his flesh but her smile softens as he speaks. "You will," He roars over the rushing wind. "You can't leave me." He isn't sure what to do, if he should stop this whole thing or if this was the only way. He'd sacrifice himself to free her but if the cost is her life, the price is unacceptable to him and he will not pay it. Meliodas doesn't have time to decide as Elizabeth snaps the gummy cord from her soul to the sword.

The screaming, devouring heads above howl as they shrink. Meliodas' eyes are drawn from Elizabeth's to watch as the curse dissolves before it flickers and is sucked into the pummel of the sword as it fades. The force in the cube fades, silence sucking up the noise around them and Elizabeth's laboring breath becomes apparent. Her grip on the sword slackens and Meliodas releases it to catch her as she wobbles on her unsteady legs, the hilt clanging on the floor.

Merlin ducks under Escanor's arm to run to her sister, Gowther following, and she's at Elizabeth's side before Meliodas has propped her up with a knee. She's dying, fading like her curse as she flickers, becoming transparent. Her lips move and Meliodas has to bend to put his ear to her lips to hear the soft lilt of her words. "I'm so glad my last life was spent with you." He's already denying the words as he pulls away to watch her eyes grow dimmer.

Her hand flops weakly and lands on Merlin's lap as she kneels at Elizabeth's other side, tears streaming down her face but Meliodas snarls, ripping his face from hers. He reaches over Elizabeth and with a harsh grasp he fists the front of Merlin's dress to pull her nearer. "Save her!" He demands and Merlin sees in his eyes that something has broken in Meliodas. "Seal her in again!"

"She... doesn't want to be reborn, she's told me in each of her previous lives." Merlin is not shy as her fingers wrap around his wrist holding her and she sneers as she tries to tug it away. "I won't allow her to go through this again! She's finally free, she can move on." Escanor is at Merlin's side just as Elizabeth's other hand reaches for Meliodas and he releases her to cup her limp fingers in his palm. Darkness lashes out and the temple falls, the ceiling caving in as the walls teeter, crumble and the depictions of her life are destroyed. The cube stays in place, saving them from being crushed but they are entombed.

Hawk's screaming from the outside finally reaches them as the rocks stop pounding against one another, his concern bordering into a panic in the distance. Meliodas pulls Elizabeth closer, bleakly looking to Merlin, then Gowther, and finally Escanor to hiss, "Just go." He tells them as he holds Elizabeth's face to touch his own, their cheeks sliding against one another while she's still solid. Her soft voice is humming to him and he closes his eyes as if that will help him hear her better.

"Even though I don't remember, I know this was my best life, my favorite." Her soothing voice, which has helped tame his inner beast does the opposite this time. Meliodas is unraveling as he reopens his eyes not truly seeing Gowther but the hilt in the lad's grip catches his attention and Meliodas cannot allow it to be in anyone else's hands. Meliodas lashes out, snagging the weapon from his old friend. "GET OUT!" He roars to them and Escanor tries to force Merlin to stand but she shrugs him off.

"I love you sis-sis." Merlin reaches, her hand petting down the back of her head as her tears flow like a rushing stream. "You're free." Merlin's other arm is in Elizabeth's hand and she squeezes, turning enough to smile softly at her sister. "It's okay," she says and Merlin finally listens, letting Escanor pull her away after her sister gives the go ahead. Merlin drops the cube, disturbing the fallen rubble to tumble and resettle. But Meliodas has his woman and his broken blade out of there as soon as the magic barrier falls.

He takes to the skies rushing in the opposite direction of his friends. To skid to a landing between the cliffs of the open earth, dirt, and dust drifting between them.

"You'll never be linked to the temple again." Meliodas hushes to her cheek, knowing he's passing into her when she should be solid. He swallows, thick and heavy, his lungs refuse to open fully and his breathing is shallow, almost non-existent. "Please... will you forgive me?" He begs, seeing the sin he is about to commit take form in his mind and he turns from her, looking to the sky as if something there has the power to absolve him. "I can't let you go!" He confesses and he vaguely hopes the others get away in time as he releases his darkness.

A funnel of black, raw demon power detonates up around him, his mark splintering down his face. Meliodas focuses on the sword in his grip as she becomes ethereal, her clothes abandoned in his grip and he bellows as she rises up like a naked angel ascending. "Heal! Stay with me! I command it!" He panics his orders as he twists his dark magic. It expands, destroying everything it touches as the hole below gets deeper from his volatile energy. They are suspended in the center of the dark forces he controls, a true black hole swirling. He harnesses his demon magic, turning it against her. Her crying, horrified face is the last thing he sees before Meliodas reseals her in the pommel of their broken sword.

His eyes dull, his face utterly distraught as he notices the starbursts of splintered glass over the swirling of starlight in pearly, sparkling water. The sword is heavier once more. "I'll bring you back Elizabeth." He vows through his thick throat, his eyes narrowing in desperate determination. "Even if you don't remember me, I'll love you and protect you. I'll be better next time." He promises the sword, wrapping her empty shirt around the hilt as if it is a precious baby.

The emotions are turbulent, he's a ship on the raging ocean inside. The crack on the pommel alarms him, and rightfully so, as the curse has been broken and sealing a soul is never an exact science. She's here though, he can feel her and for him it's just enough to stay above the tides thrashing within. His power fizzles as he reigns it in, trying to sooth the swirl of the stars, and it does, slowing with his touch. His chest aches and as he looks around he's unsure how any part of the world can move forward without her.

Meliodas' display of destruction ceases mere inches from the rear of his friends' retreating backs. It shrinks back and distractedly he heads in that direction, intent to return to Hawk and to begin traveling once more, this time in search of a way to return Elizabeth to her body. He is dazed and pained as he passes his friends, Merlin and the other not realizing Elizabeth's clothes bundled to his chest still held any part of her.

"I'm sorry..." Merlin speaks to the side of his sweaty, dirty face as he passes but he only vaguely looks to her, his dull eyes giving her no recognition but he nods to her.

"Where's Elizabeth!?" Hawk demands as he follows Meliodas, who does not respond. "Did you leave her there? You wouldn't! For some reason she loves you..." The berating continues until Hawk's fear amps up with slow understanding. The two, with Elizabeth's soul, reach the giant pig and on the porch, Meliodas shows the pig his broken sword. "We'll... bring her back, right?" Hawk chokes and his black beady eyes fill, his tears falling.

"On all our lives, yes." Meliodas ominously promises but Hawk finds this acceptable. He orders Hawk's Mama to go, abandoning his three friends left at the gaping hole where there used to be ruins to find their own way home. Before the massive pig takes her first step Meliodas starts drinking, never letting go of the bundle cradled in his arms. To him, the sword is more beautiful than ever, the sapphire hilt the same shade as her eyes and the swirling starlight is the embodiment of all the light and goodness he's ever had in his life.

Whiskey is his only true comfort.

The days of following hints and plundering ruins for magical artifacts turn to weeks of scavenging the continent. He runs out of gold and resorts to doing odd jobs just to pay for his immediate exploit. Hawk resorts to garbage scrapes and Hawk's Mama goes where her baby goes. Meliodas is either drunk or digging for any information on goddesses trapped in magical items as time creeps by.

He finds another trapped goddess, a lute with a soul harbored inside but he simply stores it in his attic as one more person he needs to set free, and a possible test subject to make sure whatever he does find is safe for Elizabeth to go through. The man is never without his broken sword, having strapped it to his chest, and when the twinkling whirls he rubs his thumb over the pommel adding his magic to ease her. It works every time but those days are especially hard on Meliodas. He drinks, afraid to unseal her.

Meliodas returns to Merlin for help after months and sloppily drinks his way across his explanation of what has happened to Elizabeth. He's thrown out the next morning and when he returns to the Boar Hat he fears he will have to let her go. "If I break the seal, will you go on without me as Merlin theorizes?" The man knows he'll want to follow her but fears his soul will not be welcomed where hers ends up.

Hawk is serving the few patrons that have trickled in from the stores of alcohol, single hoofedly keeping them barely functioning. "Escanor resupplied us from his stock." The pig tells Meliodas but he doesn't acknowledge him and walks past, stepping behind the bar, reaching for his liquid comfort. The man joins the patrons and continues long after the others have gone home, back to their loved ones.

He's most of the way to stupid-drunk when his influenced brain comes up with an idea and he untucks his blade as if unwrapping a porcelain egg from under his overcoat. "Hawk!" He hollers and the moping pig trots to him expecting him to order a drink as if Meliodas were paying- and he isn't.

He holds the hilt in his grip, intent to use it, and he raises it with a little sloppy slash at Hawk. The pig flinches out of the way, appalled as a snapping of light whips out. In a dazed repeat, the bright white flicks out, growing until Hawk is forced to look away. Meliodas though, stares at it, accepting it if his eyes burn out of their sockets, and he watches her form rise up just like the first time in the antithesis of a black hole.

"You've never needed me." Meliodas warbles as she touches down, bare to him but solid once more and she sways just as before but he's quick, holding her to him before she hits the ground. She's in one arm, cradled to his chest and the blade is in the other. With a firm fist, Meliodas crushes the stone in his mitt to dust, letting the glass and metal melt with his hellfire, destroying the sword hilt. "You are never going back in that prison again- do you hear me?" Meliodas ascertains, looking to her peaceful sleeping face.

"She's back! You brought her back!" Hawk proclaims, trotting a dance, giving her a pig nuzzle on her side before he runs out the door, screaming down to his big Mama to tell her the good news. Meliodas stares for a long moment before he carries her up the steps to the master bedroom, unable to look away. "Even if you don't remember..." Meliodas mutters, caressing her skin to his. He'd been without it for seemingly thousands of years as the bleakness of his life had gone on endlessly, "I'll carry your memories for us."

He smiles, tears finally forcing their way out and they fall to drip into her long silver tresses. The man cries for the first time in his adult life, in elation.

︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵

For the first time in months, Meliodas faces the early morning hours sober. He's spent most of the night staring at her, only brave enough to trail his fingers along her cheek and arm so softly it could barely count as touch so as not to awaken her. Sleeping, she is relaxed and peaceful. He covered her nakedness hours ago so she wouldn't catch a chill. When her eyes start to flutter and she wiggles down firmer into the blankets he knows she will awaken soon.

He doesn't want to scare her so sets out an outfit and creeps from the room, all but skipping down the stairs. Meliodas is humming a tune in the kitchen while he cooks. He tries extra hard to make what they have left to eat good and when Hawk clomps over with a pep in his step he isn't surprised that Meliodas is happy for the first time since they visited the ruined temple. "She might not remember." He warns his pig friend, "We don't want to scare her or make her feel any more confusion than she probably already does. I'll see what she knows and explain about the reborn thing." Hawk nods but he's already sniffing thickly as he cries.

Meliodas is plating her breakfast when he hears her soft feet move a floor above, acutely listening for her. Hawk is still emotional and Meliodas asks him to get himself together. "Please don't scare her, sit outside," which he agrees to and stops on the porch. The pig had joined Meliodas in the night just to see Elizabeth home in her bed before sleeping himself. Hawk is so full of joy it's leaking from his eyes and he sits on the porch beside the step Elizabeth always sat in when she had been her previous self.

Elizabeth dresses, taking a rather long time in Meliodas' opinion and his hearts sink, both hoping she remembers and hoping she doesn't. He fears she will be angry enough to hate him, he selfishly sealed her after all. Meliodas sets her plate down at the bar, arranging it just so and goes back to squeeze fresh juice as waiting is becoming unbearable. She's moving down the hall and he hurriedly grabs a clean mug and a rag to appear busy. Elizabeth makes her way down to the bar with her hand daintily feeling down the railing.

Her eyes are wide, but her shoulders are relaxed and Meliodas roams her body in her old dress fearing he is too obvious as he can't bring himself to look away. She looks around the place, her blue eyes are wary but sparkling as she spots him. He smiles but she doesn't, stepping around the tables and Meliodas exhales before using the cup in his hands to point at the plate. "I made you breakfast. I thought you'd be hungry after... well, everything." His face burns, his ears pinkening.

Elizabeth sits, looking at the eggs, hash, and toast but takes the glass of juice first to sip. The fork is in her hand before she speaks, gathering a bite on the end. "Have I been here before?" She puzzles at a whisper, the first taste of his cooking hitting her tongue and inexplicably sorrow fills her. Her throat tightens, her heart races and something heavy pounds in her head, aching. She feels hope and elation but deep anguish and it all combines together. A soft groan whispers from her throat. It hits her so fast she can't process it quick enough and tears fall down her cheeks, dripping from her chin.

His food tastes like a salt paste but she's happy about it somehow, her fork lowering to the table and it taps on the bartop. Their eyes meet and when he looks into her endless depths his lips part in surprise, but he hides his hope and adoration with a quick shake of his head. "Yeah." He hushes, unable to look away. "I have a story to tell you, but I think we should take this slow for now." Meliodas sets his very clean mug down, his rag following and he offers his hand, palm up and fingers out.

Slowly, she reaches for it, her smooth skin solid and silky in his grasp when she takes his hand to hold. Elizabeth's brow uncrinkles at the touch, her teeth poking out to nibble at her bottom lip and her cheeks pinken in the same breath. He squeezes her hand reassuringly. "Don't worry, we'll figure it all out." He promises her. She nods, knowing she can trust him and feeling as if she is home. But this rebirth is different as it wasn't just the remains of the curse that manifested her, but her own regeneration paired with Meliodas' magic.

"Meliodas?" She whispers uncertainly and his other hand snaps forward to touch her face, his own emotions swirling in a chaotic mash of tender fragility. He cups her cheek and she leans into the touch on instinct. Eight hearts race. His ache as he feels like he fills with helium, about to lift off and float away any moment. Elizabeth remembered his name and after everything, he did to her he waits for her to flinch away, for her soft eyes to harden or her expression to shine in contempt.

He tenses for it but nothing like that happens and softly, Meliodas unweaves the web of her confusion while smoothing out the harsher edges of their journey and downplaying their relationship. Elizabeth is quick though, always has been. "You and I were important to one another?" She asks, a glassy sheen making her eyes shine. Meliodas licks his lips, his elbows dropping to the bartop as he holds her hand between his and nods, agreeing. "I'm sorry I don't remember." She sniffs, her lip quivering.

"But you have... You knew my name." Meliodas rushes but her cheeks pinken and her face drops to look at her plate of food as she points over her shoulder with her free hand to the wanted board. He vaguely follows her indication and Meliodas lungs cease as he spots his poster, a joke at this point, but it had his face and name on the paper. "It's... Okay," he releases her hand, straightening up, "A fresh start sounds wonderful."

Silently he vows to reshow her everything she loved in her last life, and, if she so desires to be with him again, he will take her so gently it will more closely resemble worshiping at her sacred shrine than sex. She peeks at him through her bangs, her feelings for him remain, and he simpers, head falling to the side as he reassures her with his expression alone. Her own is shy but he is so grateful to see it again, that she is once more solid and safe. "Okay." Elizabeth hushes and a new start is had.

* * *

Reviews are welcome and very encouraged. They honestly make my day.

I'm on tumblr, if ya wanna chat or see the little extra things I write. The name is _JacklynnFrost_ there too and I mostly just post about SDS. Twitter and Deviantart are under _xSamanthrax._


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